National Geographic Grows Travel Business

Expansion includes new travel platforms, television programming, and strategic new hires

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Coming off a record 2016 and posting double-digit growth into 2017, National Geographic Travel announces additional global expansion plans for Europe and Asia and broadens its portfolio of travel-related media offerings. The expansion includes the launch of a weekly two-hour travel programming block, the appointment of new executives, a special luxury edition of National Geographic Traveler magazine, and the development of the new National Geographic Travel Lab.

"National Geographic is leveraging the unique power of our brand to reinvigorate and reinvent our ancillary businesses, and our Travel business is a key piece of that," said Declan Moore, National Geographic Partners CEO. "Furthering the knowledge and understanding of our world is, and always has been, at National Geographic's core and we believe travel is essential to advancing that mission.  For more than a century we have been showing our audience the wonders of the planet and through our travel offerings, we can also take them there."

National Geographic Travel's international growth and development continues with the appointment of Nathan Philpot. Philpot, who has extensive experience in the travel industry, has been named Director, National Geographic Expeditions Europe & Africa and is charged in part with developing and launching the branded consumer travel experiences across Europe and Africa.

Within the Expeditions business, National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World continues to grow since launching in January 2015 with 24 charter members. The collection is now up to 55 properties in remarkable destinations around the world, spanning 30 countries and 6 continents. They recently released their first Sustainable Tourism Impact Report, showcasing sustainable tourism in action among their members.

In travel media, National Geographic is strengthening its Travel franchise with the launch of National Geographic Traveler magazine's first-ever luxury edition, which will be distributed next month to a targeted circulation of 350,000 National Geographic subscribers. The special edition will feature content relevant to the affluent traveler, including luxury hotels, fine dining, and bespoke travel experiences.

Additionally, Andrew Nelson has been tapped to lead a newly formed NG Travel Lab, which will serve as a one-stop shop for custom content creation, distribution and marketing. The team will provide creative client solutions across multiple platforms, from ideation to execution, spanning digital, social, video and print platforms while working with our regional labs in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Television programming will also reflect National Geographic's emphasis on travel, with a dedicated travel block starting in July. The two-hour programming section will run every Thursday from 6 to 8:00 PM ET.

National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 129 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers … and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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SOURCE National Geographic