Focus: Alternative travel packages
Tom Marchant James Merrett and Matt Smith, all 30
Company: Black Tomato
Web: www.blacktomato.co.uk
If you’re the kind of person whose idea of a perfect holiday is hunting anaconda in the Brazilian jungle, or going to the hippest bar in town that’s only just opened, then Black Tomato is the place to go. Tom Marchant, James Merrett and Matt Smith’s business creates bespoke holidays for travellers looking for the inside track on how to experience destinations as the locals do. In just four years it has grown from a back-room start-up into a £7m firm taking 1,000 bookings a month, poised for expansion in the US and scooping the coveted Observer/Guardian Best Travel Website accolade two years running. The business is about to launch its first ecommerce platform.
