Latitude Group Travel was formed with the thought that something was missing in the way that Educational Tours were being delivered. With a passion for education and the desire to make a real difference, Dennis and Jenny Murphy formed Latitude Group Travel.
They believed that service is essential. Understanding that teachers are so incredibly busy, Dennis and Jenny wanted to take as much of the burden of organising school tours away from the teacher. They wanted to do as much of the organising work as possible so that the teacher could get on with teaching and their other responsibilities.
Latitude Group Travel, today, provides exceptional and unique tours that take the worry away from busy teachers and reassures the parents that their children are receiving real educational value.
THEIR MISSION IS TO ENSURE
- Tours delivered to students have real learning outcomes.
- Tours are so bespoke that each school has special tours, designed only for them and that these tours, then, are something of which the school can be exceptionally proud.
- Parents can be confident that the tour provides value for money for the exceptional experiences.
- Tours include activities that fill the whole tour and that there are no gaps to be filled, or extras to pay, when the school group is on tour.
- Tours are linked to the curriculum and have real educational outcomes.
- Included experiential learning activities mean that students learn by being engaged in a workshop, themed guided tour, Q & A sessions and more, all linked to what they are learning in class
- Our tours are safe.
- Tours are highly engaging, exciting and educational
THE ‘A’ TEAM
Latitude Group Travel is incredibly fortunate to have on board a team of passionate and dedicated staff , who live and breathe the company’s mission and vision.
The team is responsible for all of the bookings of tour elements, hotels, shows, tours, experiential learning activities and more, as well as developing our very special custom designed, curriculum linked itineraries. The team also liaises day to day with teachers to ensure that every part of the process occurs as it should and meets or exceeds the teachers’ expectations. The reason that the individuals in our team stay with Latitude Group Travel is their real belief in what we do and their desire to do it better and better every day!
DENNIS MURPHY – MANAGING DIRECTOR
A former high school teacher of Government, History and Economics, Dennis has had nearly 30 years in the travel industry, much of it in student travel as a tour director, logistical specialist and negotiator. He has a strong background in all things American, as he is from Boston. He has conducted performing arts and history tours himself, just to keep his hand in as a tour director, which he loves. His experience on the road means that he can solve almost every issue that may arise and has the foresight to consider every eventuality. Dennis is responsible, overall, for procuring our tour directors, locating ideal accommodation and ensuring that all elements of the tours are in place. He reviews all itineraries to guarantee the most efficient route and that the finest tour is delivered for the best possible costing. Dennis is an excellent negotiator and is an expert in logistics. He is on call 24/7 when tours are away, to ensure that any issue that arises can be solved, often before the group is even aware! Dennis’s first contact with a client is frequently as the presenter of our information presentations to parents and students – but he has been involved with your tour long before that.
JENNY MURPHY – CEO
Jenny has spent much of her career in starting and running a long term business in HR Consulting and now as an Educational Tour Operator. She has also travelled most of the globe, including Antarctica – which she considers to be life changing. She has lived in both England and the US, giving her an excellent knowledge of both, plus expertise in Europe. Jenny is responsible for high level strategy and company direction. She oversees the development of our unique itineraries, curriculum evaluation and linkage and the overall investigation, development and approval of our unique experiential learning activities. She runs the accounting, operations, legal and human resources departments and spends much of her time speaking with clients. She is also responsible for marketing and development of and liaison with our corporate partnerships with teacher associations. Of course she relies on her staff to handle all the day to day responsibilities in each area. Jenny may well be the first person you speak to when enquiring about a specific subject based tour.
DELIA GAWTHORNE – OPERATIONS MANAGER
With a breadth of skills gained through a very diverse array of roles, Delia holds the position of Operations Manager. She successfully manages the wide range of day to day operations at Latitude Group Travel, including responsibility for our group of tour consultants and booking agents. Her background includes several years as Cruise Director on board ultra-deluxe cruise lines Silversea and Seabourn, where client service was vital, so she thoroughly understands its importance at Latitude Group Travel. She has also held positions as Tax Accountant at Ernst & Young, Event Manager for a variety of international events, professional entertainer and also facilitator and presenter of corporate training programs. All of these positions hold her in excellent stead for this most challenging role. Delia also liaises with all our clients to understand their needs and to ensure that everything is running smoothly. She undertakes presentations to schools and represents us at conferences and in other forums
TORI BROOKES – MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT
Tori’s background includes qualifications gained in teaching and experience in a travel agency prior to taking some time to raise her children. In the last three years with Latitude Group Travel, Tori has taken responsibility for Operations and then moved into Marketing and Development when she wanted to restrict her hours a little more. She is capable of almost anything at all, but is currently responsible for generating business from Asia, liaising mostly with China. Tori organises where, when and how we exhibit at teacher conferences and is usually there herself, representing our company. In addition she is involved with our social media and, with Jenny, is responsible for much of Latitude Group Travel’s written marketing material. She liaises with our corporate partners and with our Service Learning Tours partner, GVI.