Nomads was born under a bridge!

Australian hitchiker Richard McLeod had one of those nights when he turned up to a backpacker hostel in Koblenz, Germany one cold evening…Richard's diary reads:

"I am now in Koblenz….city of 110,000 at the junction of the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. Both Tony and I hitched from Holland to Dusseldorf and on to here. Tony is missing. We split up (while hitching) intending to meet at the YHA. It was closed 13.8.1985. …I will have to sleep rough tonight"

Richard still had the hostel brochure that made him come to Koblenz. It showed a newly renovated Castle with great views of the Rivers. The brochure was so new he could smell the print. The brochures were distributed in all the major hostels heading to Koblenz. …and yet the hostel had been closed for 6 months and had no sign of opening soon. There had to be a better way of marketing hostels to travellers! Nomads was born, albeit as a fuzzy, beer induced idea.

In February 1994 Richard started Nomads and opened the first hostel in Adelaide. Since then Nomads has become one of Australia's most prolific youth and accommodation marketing companies. In 1995 Nomads began working within the international market place with the development of this Internet site and the introduction of the Nomads Adventure Card and Travel Guide. This was followed in 1997 by the launch of the "Starts Here" accommodation and travel packages now sold around the world.

Nomads Travel was formed to manage the wholesale travel business and to develop the Nomads Adventure Card. Nomads Travel now provides a large proportion of the distribution into Nomads Hostels. The international traveller is the fastest growing customer segment of Nomads and Nomads now actively sells youth travel products in more than 40 countries via 180 travel retailers and wholesalers representing thousands of travel agents. The average month will see more than 20 different nationalities book travel from this web site alone.

• Nomads is a registered Inbound Tour Operator
• Nomads is a member of the Australian Tourism Export Council
• Nomads is a member of the Federation of International Youth Travel Organisations
• Nomads has won 4 major tourism marketing and accommodation awards
• Nomads is a member of most state based tourism organisations

Nomads attends the following trade shows around the world to represent its properties:

More than 1.5 million Nomads bed nights are occupied in Australia and New Zealand annually.

More recently in 2001, Nomads World Hotels was incorporated as a hotel management company offering quality management for backpacker hostels. This business now manages 13 hostels in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Current properties under management include, Serpent Resort, Cairns Beach House, Esplanade Backpackers, Arts Factory Lodge, Maze Backpackers, Westend Hostel, Industry Hostel, Fat Camel Hostel, Capital Backpackers, and Skylodge Resort.

In 2006Nomads World Hotels was acquired by Michael Ebert and Daniel Bunning,then in December 2007 they also purchased Nomads Travel and all other Nomads businesses, so that all of Nomads has now merged into one streamlined company which operates the following businesses: