TORONTO, ON—January 14, 2016—Explorica, Inc., a leading provider of educational student tours around the world, has joined with WorldStrides, the largest educational travel company in North America. Founded in 1967, WorldStrides provides industry-leading global educational programs to more than 400,000 students from more than 5,000 K-12 schools and universities each year.
“Joining WorldStrides presents an ideal opportunity for Explorica to continue our mission of providing students and teachers with the highest quality educational travel programs at affordable prices,” said Explorica founder and Chairman, Olle Olsson. He and a team of seasoned travel professionals, including Dan Kellerd, President of Explorica Canada, launched the company in 2000, revolutionizing the industry with new online tools that enable teachers to create customized travel programs. Today, Explorica offers tours in more than 75 countries and serves over 35,000 Canadian and U.S. elementary and high school students annually. The company is also a leader in domestic student trips for Canadian students through its Keating by Explorica division.
“We are extremely excited about the people, programs and resources that Explorica brings to WorldStrides,” said Jim Hall, President and CEO of WorldStrides. “We have known and admired Explorica since the company’s founding, and their programs provide a perfect complement to WorldStrides.” He added, “With the addition of Explorica, we now have more than 1,300 global employees operating out of 45 offices on six continents, allowing us to continue to set new standards in experiential education for students of all ages.”
Explorica’s management team and employees will continue with WorldStrides following the acquisition. “The collective resources of our companies are unmatched in our industry, and I could not be more excited for our employees and customers,” says Olsson.
About Explorica
Explorica is a dedicated leader in educational travel, providing teacher-led tours full of authentic, interactive learning experiences. Since 2000, the company has helped more than 1 million students and their teachers experience new cultures, languages and people in over 75 countries. For more information, visit www.explorica.ca.
About WorldStrides
WorldStrides, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia U.S.A., is the largest educational student travel company in North America. The company was founded in 1967 to provide middle school travel programs to Washington, D.C., and has grown to provide educational programs for more than 400,000 students annually from more than 5,000 K-12 schools and universities to over 100 countries around the world. WorldStrides is owned by management and institutional investors including The Carlyle Group. For more information on WorldStrides, visit www.worldstrides.com.
About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with more than $188 billion of assets under management across 126 funds. Founded in 1987 in Washington, D.C., Carlyle has grown into one of the world’s largest and most successful investment firms, with more than 1700 professionals operating out of 35 offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Contact
Dan Kellerd, President
Explorica Canada
888.378.8845 ext.240
dkellerd@explorica.ca