History of Swain

Planning international travel with Swain Destinations, the leading U.S. provider of customized vacation experiences, starts with a blank piece of paper. The trip is tailored from the very start by Ian Swain and his dedicated team to offer American travelers the opportunity to create a completely customized trip to far-flung destinations, including Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Asia, India, and Africa.

The seeds of what would become Swain Destinations were sowed in Swain’s native Australia. The self-described “true blue Aussie” was born in Brisbane and showed a knack for entrepreneurship by launching a career in banking before he’d even left high school. After quickly progressing through the ranks, he left to pursue a new challenge in the insurance industry and started a brokerage company when he was just 19.

Swain then met and married Linda, an American with a penchant for international travel. Two years into their marriage, and seven years into the insurance business, they decided to relocate to Philadelphia, where Linda was raised. With his knowledge of the South Pacific and her understanding of the American traveler, they started Swain Australia Tours (now Swain Destinations) in 1987.

Over the course of the next 10 years, Swain Destinations became the largest seller of South Pacific travel on the East Coast. The company has since expanded to include destinations in Southeast Asia and Southern and Eastern Africa, as well as India. Branching out into other destinations was a natural step, and the perfect solution to being able to continue creating unique travel experiences around the globe. Again utilizing local experts from those destinations, Swain quickly became a force with these exotic destinations.