Scenic Group, the fast-growing Australian company that now encompasses river cruises, tours and yacht expeditions, is furthering its expansion in North America with the purchase of Mayflower Tours.
Mayflower Cruises & Tours will continue to be based in Downers Grove, just outside of Chicago, and lead by current Mayflower president, Nish Patel.
Mayflower founders and owners John and Mary Stachnik are retiring.
"We are always looking for synergies that produce greater opportunities for our guests," said Glen Moroney, founder and chairman of Scenic Group. "We have worked with Mayflower Tours for several years and have always been incredibly impressed with the level of service and offerings that John and Mary Stachnik have offered their guests. So, when the opportunity came about due to their wish to retire, it was an easy decision."
Mayflower will continue to run as a separate entity with many of the same people, same executive team and same focus - offering immersive programs aimed at exceeding the guest's expectations. The purchase will offer Mayflower greater access to river and ocean itineraries on both Scenic and its sister brand, Emerald Waterways, while Scenic and Emerald will have a litany of land-based tours that can be combined with their cruise offerings.
"The Scenic Group and Mayflower-this is a perfect match," Patel said. "Mayflower's fastest growing product segment is the river cruises and having access to Scenic' s excellent quality and vast inventory will offer substantial growth. We look forward to continuing to provide the same high-quality tours and services."
The two companies share similar histories, albeit on different continents. Scenic began as a luxury tour operator in 1986, adding luxury river cruises in 2008, and today has more than 800 escorted itineraries in 66 countries, 22 river ships, and two luxury discovery yachts launching in August and in 2020.
Mayflower began in 1979 doing the same thing in the U.S. and today offers hundreds of deluxe tours in 52 countries.
"We had many ah-ha moments and going on our first river cruise convinced us that this was something our customers had to experience themselves," the Stachniks said in a news release.
"We raised two wonderful kids, Molly and John Jr., and our primary goal was for them to lead a wonderful life and be independent. We accomplished that task and now it's time to appreciate the fruits of our labor. We want to thank everyone in the travel industry and most importantly our personal and business families, plus the entire staff at Mayflower and last, but not least, the biggest thank you is to our travelers."
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