Playing by the book – how GO Sport Travel sets the standard for sports experiences

For many, the thrill of live sport is a treasured experience – one that deserves to be seamless, safe, and memorable. GO Sport Travel, a long-standing member of ours, has spent nearly a quarter of a century perfecting just that. We sat down with Per Gavelius, founder and Managing Director, to hear the story behind the company’s journey from its roots in Sweden to its current position as a trusted international operator.

Founded in 2001, GO Sport Travel was born from a passion for ice hockey and a vision to package overseas sporting experiences in North America for Swedish fans.  Per shares: “We launched and released the website on the 10th of September, and the 11th of September, there was the attack in the World Trade Centre in New York.” This made Per and his business partner rethink their idea and the target audience for their travel company. 

They shifted their focus towards football and Formula One, with London, Manchester, and Liverpool among its most popular destinations. British football games widely broadcasted in Sweden meant a large target audience, and combined with the much shorter travel distance from Sweden to the UK and Europe – compared to North America – this new focus created a whole new business model.

Elevating experiences with local expertise
Today, GO Sport Travel’s operations go beyond Sweden thanks to GST Ltd, a separate company part of the GO Sport Travel Group, that’s based in Camden, London. The team at GST Ltd has strong local expertise, with staff who have worked for well-known football clubs and venues like Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC, and Wembley Stadium. They lead the sales in the UK and also organise travel experiences for visitors, arranging everything from hotels and sightseeing tours to group dinners. Since becoming part of the GO Sport Travel Group in 2021, GST Ltd has helped the group manage and deliver every part of its service directly, ensuring high quality and a seamless experience for clients.

Building trust through official partnerships
At the start, establishing partnerships among ticket suppliers proved to be a significant challenge, as Per says: “It's not easy today, but it was not at all easy to get the right tickets 25 years ago.” Despite many ups and downs and knocking on countless club doors, GO Sport Travel eventually secured its first official agreement in 2009. Since then, building official partnerships with clubs and venues has become a core part of the company’s business model. “Establishing these partnerships is a hard way to do it, it's difficult, it's a lot of responsibility, but we realised that it’s the way we want to do it.” Per explains.

Today, GO Sport Travel holds exclusive agreements with some of the UK’s most iconic venues and clubs, including Wembley stadium, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Fulham FC. These agreements, whether with venues or sports clubs, serve as a stamp of approval – signalling trust, quality, and reliability. As Per explains: “If you have Wembley for example, it’s a great certification of that you’re genuine.” He elaborates: “It’s the only safe way for the end user to actually experience live football or live events.”

Each partnership comes with its own set of rules and requirements but GO Sport Travel’s approach is always to ‘play by the book’, adapting to each club or venue’s needs, and ensuring that every client’s experience is as smooth as possible.

Safety, simplicity, and satisfaction
For GO Sport Travel, trust is built into every aspect of their operation. “We only do authorised tickets,” says Per. “If we can't offer that, we say ‘Sorry, we have no opportunity to offer you what you're asking for because we can't get hold of authorised tickets’.” 

This uncompromising stance is underpinned by a team with deep roots in the travel and airline industry. “60-70% of our staff in Sweden have a background from SAS Scandinavian Airlines. We know everything about how the airline industry works and what's best for the client. The knowledge my staff has from working in the hospitality industry is incredibly important to me,” Per notes. He explains that while the company was born out of an interest in sports, the company’s true expertise is within hospitality.

The company’s core values – safety, simplicity, and satisfaction – are more than just words. “It must be easy for people to understand what they book. We try to have the website as informative as possible, without saying too much. We’re not promising anything we can’t deliver,” Per explains. GO Sport Travel’s staff are visible, with direct contact details and photos on the website – a rarity in the industry, and a clear signal of accountability.

Embracing change with resilience
The pandemic posed unprecedented challenges for the entire travel industry but GO Sport Travel responded with resilience and foresight. “We made a decision to keep our staff. We looked at it like an investment because the pandemic would end somewhere, sometime, and then we would be ready to handle everything,” Per highlights. 

The company also embraced digital transformation, adopting new software, and sharpened their aim on the UK market even more. The results speak for themselves, as Per shares: “The turnover is nearly three times as before COVID. I think we did a lot of things right by being open-minded to change ourselves, while still maintaining the soul of GO Sport Travel into the new era.”

Charting the course for future growth
GO Sport Travel are now looking to expand their horizons even further, with new contracts in Italy and plans to bring UK clients to top European destinations. Per also explains that their website will be updated to cater to an even wider audience: “The website will be in four new languages, and that will most likely help us reach four major markets in Europe and get a better reach globally.” 

This next chapter builds on GO Sport Travel’s story, which is one defined by adaptability, integrity, and a genuine passion for sport. Per’s vision is clear: “We want to make sure our clients experience world-class events in a safe and controlled way.” In a community where reputation and relationships matter, GO Sport Travel is a partner that delivers on its promises.