A canal boat tour business has gone up for sale despite just winning a tourism award for the second year on the run. Wandering Duck which offers multi-day tours on the canals between Manchester and the Peak Forest and Macclesfield canals has recently won Tourism Experience of the Year for the second year at the Manchester Tourism Awards 2015.
Competing against formidable competition from the major tourist attractions in the area, the judges were again impressed by the innovative and highly original experience on offer and the customer service. With an untarnished record of 5* Trip Advisor reviews and growing sales every year it therefore begs the questions “why now?” as Wandering Duck is on the market for sale.
“Wandering Duck has been a fantastic success” says Mark Bratt, owner of Wandering Duck. “But the problem with a lifestyle business is that it only works for you when you want that lifestyle. We’re now at the stage where we’d like to settle and have a family. We really want the concept to continue but we need other adventurous couples to follow in our footsteps”.
“We set up Wandering Duck with no experience of the canals. We did it because we’re passionate about travel & tourism, we love meeting people and we wanted to work for ourselves”. Whilst this may sound like a dream lifestyle, Mark is keen to emphasise that it’s not something to go into half-heartedly.
“We work 6 days a week from March to October. You really have to be jack of all trades. I love the hosting, but I also service the engine, clean the toilets, go to networking meetings and update the website!”
Mark is flexible as to his approach in assisting the new owners.
“The priority for us is finding the right people for the job. So the model would be tailored to their needs. Somebody with less money to invest may prefer to lease a boat from us. Someone with limited marketing experience may prefer a franchise so that we continue to assist with the SEO and social media. It’s whatever works for the individuals”.
“We’ve done our bit in setting up the concept and creating a market for our tours. That was always our goal. Now it’s time to hand over our knowledge and experience to others. It’s a great opportunity for a couple who want to live on the canals from March to October and perhaps go travelling over the winter”.
Learning of the sale, David Baldacchino, waterway manager said “We’ve enjoyed having Wandering Duck on the Waterway. The holiday experience they offer has international appeal and is targeted at a different audience, which complements the activities of our other boating businesses. We hope that it’s able to continue. Anyone interested in operating a boating business on CRT waters will find useful information on the Canal & River Trust website.”
If you’d like to find out more about this opportunity then contact Mark Bratt at Wandering Duck: mark@wanderingduck.co.uk or phone 07584 122609.
Thanks to Mark Bratt and Harry Arnold for this information and Waterway Images for the photos.
