Jena Gardner Purchases Heritage Tours Private Travel

Jena Gardner, president and CEO of JG Black Book, has just told us that she’s purchased Heritage Tours Private Travel from owner Joel Zack. The company crafts custom-designed itineraries to Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Gardner says the deal came about as she was having lunch with Zack a few months ago. The two are both based in Manhattan, and following the initial conversation, it took just two months for the transaction to be completed. Gardner definitely feels there is good synergy between JG Black Book and Heritage Tours Private Travel.

“Every day I grow more and more confident in my belief that travel can and should be a force for good in the world,” Gardner wrote to the luxury travel advisor community in an email announcing the purchase.  “It is unique in its ability to promote personal awareness and a global consciousness – two things so needed in our world today. Joel says it best on his website: ‘To me travel is not about checking things off a list – it is about enrichment, encounters with people whose lives are very different from our own and being open to deepening our understanding of the world we live in.’”

“I find great synergy between my own personal belief in the power of travel and Joel’s mission in founding Heritage Tours Private Travel,” she concluded.

Zack will remain with the company for the next five years with the title,“Chief Visionary Dude.” The staff at Heritage Tours Private Travel, also based in New York will all remain on board and will soon be moving in to JG Black Book’s SoHo offices.

Gardner adds that both companies will run autonomously and from a day-to-day perspective everything will remain exactly the same in terms of how both teams work with travel advisors.

JG Black Book is a full-service consulting firm that provides public relations, sales, marketing, and branding services to clients in the travel and travel lifestyle sectors from six offices across the world.  It helps suppliers gain exposure, build new networks and increase sales within the travel industry.