Company Background
OUR COMPANY HISTORY
2008
EARLY BEGINNINGS
Our co-founder, Alex, moved from Germany in 2004 with the intent to bring more visitors to North East England. After a successful time at university and also qualifying as a Blue Badge tourist guide, he set about starting his own business. Northern Secrets, a specialist inbound tour operator, is born.
2013
THANKS DISNEY!
Co-founder Paul established a business in Liverpool (LDSL) to help increase inbound travel. LDSL establishes itself as a partner of several cruise companies in Liverpool, Holyhead and Newcastle. Disney Cruise Line required some assistance and this is how Paul anbd Alex met.
2014
GROWTH
During the mid 2010s Northern Secrets has built a base of trade partners throughout Europe and is slowly moving into the cruise market in Newcastle, helping LDSL during some of the larger cruise calls to the city. It does not take long until both Paul and Alex realise the synergies between East and West and their work…
2017
EXPERIENCE NORTH LTD IS BORN
After short deliberation, both friends, Alex and Paul, decided it made perfect sense to create a company together to look after cruise lines visiting the Northern England ports – LDSL re-brands as Experience North with Alex & Paul as the new directors. Northern Secrets continues as an inbound tours & travel company only, passing Destination Management to the new company.
2020
COVID
The pandemic of 2020 has changed the world. It did, however, give Experience North one clear benefit: time! Time to update business practices, efficiencies and create a better customer journey. Time to reestablish company values and plan for not only 12 months but for 5 years and beyond.
2021
A NEW DIRECTION
Liverpool Tour Company and Newcastle Tour Company was born out of a thought. Both Paul and Alex were convinced that the world is changing and shifting with consumers moving towards smaller groups, more authentic tour activities & experiential travel… Experience N orth was, in the past, always a B2B company only but realised the potential of creating a more consumer focus.
2021
PAPERLESS
Since 2021 we are officially a Paperless company, using no or as little printed paper as possible.
2022
SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL
The team at Experience North Ltd is proud to support Ecologi and The Eden Projects. We signed up to Ecologi in July 2020 funding Gold Standard climate projects to offset our carbon footprint and plant trees for each tour booking you make with us.
2022
NEW TOUR GUIDES & EXPERIENCES
During the pandemic, we have not stood still but have increased our team of amazing tour guides to fulfill the increasing demand for our tours in 2022. We have a family of local guides and you will love them! We are constantly working hard to improve tours and create amazing new experiences across North East England.
2025
BRAND REFRESH
A major change to our consumer-facing brands: Newcastle Tour Company and Liverpool Tour Company become Experience North Tours with the exciting prospect of serving more destinations within our Northern England regions.
OUR PARTNERS
SUSTAINABLE TOURS
We care deeply about our planet and the places we travel to. For this reason, we plant a tree for every tour we sell. We have teamed up with Ecologi to create a more sustainable tour experience.