1967
NST was established over 40 years ago in 1967. Today the Company employs over 240 full time staff and 135 seasonal staff and has a turnover in excess of £50m.
NST was founded in 1967 as Northern Schools Travel by Vin Craven, a former Maths teacher from Millfield High School in Thornton, Lancashire. 17 years later, the company operated with a turnover of £1,000,000. Vin Craven’s sons, John and David, joined in 1979 and 1982 respectively.
1983 - 84
The Company name was changed to NST in 1983 and from 1984 the Company developed rapidly through organic growth. By 1992 it was one of the UK’s leading school travel companies with a turnover of approximately £5,000,000.
1992
Since 1992 the Company expanded to offer a wider range of travel opportunities to school, college and also adult groups.
ETS Travel was created in 1992 to offer air tours and sports tours to schools to complement the educational coach tours operated by NST.
1993
In 1993 NST purchased StudyLink a company specialising in coach tours for university and college groups.
The safety of our clients has always been of paramount importance. In 1993 it was decided to document our existing procedures and in conjunction with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) a School Tour Operators’ Safety Management System was developed.
1994
In December 1994 NST acquired SETA, a leading Scottish school travel company based in Glasgow.
1995
In July 1995 NST established a Music Tours Division which is now the leading operator in its field
In September 1995 ETS created a specialist division, ETS StudyLink, to operate air tours for university and college groups to complement the coach tours operated by NST StudyLink.
1996
To further expand their range of sports tours ETS Travel acquired a specialist sports travel company, Sportsclass, in 1996 and created a separate division, ETS Sportsclass.
NST had traded successfully in Northern Ireland since 1986. NST Limited was established in Dublin in 1996 and is now the major player in the school and group market in the whole of Ireland.
1997
In January 1997 NST established an Adventure Division and in March 1997 purchased Winmarleigh Hall, a 29,000 square foot Victorian Mansion set in 50 acres of woods and parkland just south of Lancaster, from where a very successful combined Outdoor Activities and Educational programme is operated.
By December 1997 NST had a turnover of approximately £9,000,000 and employed 50 staff whilst ETS had a turnover of £6,000,000 and employed 28 staff. The combined volumes of the 2 Companies also made them Europe’s leading educational tour operator. A decision to formally merge the 2 Companies was taken. Since the merger 4 new divisions have been established.
1998
In April 1998 The Group Travel Company was created to cater for adult group tours.
A similar rationale led to the creation of Tours for Churches in May 1998. This is an extremely specialist division dealing solely with religious groups.
In addition, the Adventure Division has continued to expand. A campsite in the Ardèche was purchased in May 1998 which opened in April 1999.
1999
A Chateau in Northern France was purchased in January 1999 which opened in February 2000.
2000
In May 2000 the Company was ranked as the 41st fastest growing company in the UK by Dun and Bradstreet from their database of over 2 million companies.
2001
In September 2001 the decision was made to merge NST StudyLink and ETS StudyLink creating one brand, based in Cambridge and named simply StudyLink which is focused solely on the needs of the University and College group market. This division is now the UK’s largest operator in this particular niche market.
In December 2001 the Company acquired the forward bookings of Top Class Travel, its main competitor in the schools market in Scotland following their collapse.
2003
In January 2003 the Company launched its first formal long term Strategic Plan which clearly stated what we want to achieve over the next 5 years and how we would achieve it. In essence this plan explained that after a period of rapid development over the last 10 years when we expanded from having one division to a position where we had 7 divisions in the UK, plus a separate Company in Ireland, we had an excellent and complementary product range and a very solid infrastructure.
In August 2003 the Company acquired the business of Blue Chip School Travel, the UK’s leading operator of English and Drama visits for school groups.
2006
In January 2006 the Company further refined its structure by merging the 3 Blackpool based schools divisions and taking out the responsibility for the management of the 3 residential centres from this division. This reorganisation enabled the Company to strengthen its management team by the recruitment of specialist managers both within the enlarged division and also within the Property Department. It also facilitated taking a much more co-ordinated approach to its largest market place.
In March 2006 the Company acquired the business of Young World Travel, a small specialist educational travel company, who cited the increasing regulatory demands regarding safety management as one of the main reasons for selling this business.
As part of the Strategic Plan, the Company sold off its Sports Tours business and merged its two smaller divisions (The Group Travel Company and Tours for Churches) into two of the larger divisions.
2007
By April 2007 the Group (including NST in Ireland) employed over 256 full time staff and 71 seasonal staff and forward bookings indicate that turnover in 2007 will be in excess of £51,000,000.
By September 2007 July 2001 the Group (including NST in Ireland) employed over 260 full time staff and 75 seasonal staff and forward bookings indicate that turnover in 2008 will be in excess of £55,000,000.
On 30 September 2007 NST was acquired by Holidaybreak Plc and became part of the Education Division of Holidaybreak Plc alongside PGL, the UK’s leading provider of activity courses to schools.
