Contiki Tours

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A trio of Contiki tour buses for three different tours in Èze, France

Contiki Tours is a coach tour holiday company operating in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Bali. The travel company was formed in the 1960s specifically to create coach trips for 18-35 year-olds to include a mix of sightseeing, free time, culture, socializing and adventure.^{[citation needed]}

In 1961, New Zealander John Anderson arrived in London to tour Europe. By himself and without much money, he devised a plan so that he would not have to travel alone.^{[citation needed]} He put a deposit on a yellow minibus and gathered a group of people to travel with, and they spent 12 weeks exploring Europe together. At the end of the trip, he tried to sell the minibus without success. The following year he decided to advertise his Europe trip again. This time he was able to fit two trips into the summer season. The first tours were booked by 19-29 year olds, starting the tradition of Contiki Holidays being for youth travelers. Today, yellow is the base color in the logo, the same as the original bus.^{[citation needed]}

Nowadays, most participants in Contiki tours are Australian, but many New Zealanders and North Americans travel with Contiki. Contiki is growing in popularity in the Far East, South America, Central America and Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Contiki is the most popular youth travel company in the world, carrying over 150 000 18-35 year olds worldwide in 2007..^{[citation needed]}