41800 Hayes Road, Suite 116, Clinton Township, Michigan 48038, USA
Welcome Greetings:
Welcome to Kirby Tours – One of the oldest tour operator in the United States, ready to celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2019.
Established on February 21, 1919, Kirby Travel & Tours was established by Earl Kirby, a hotelier who pioneered the concept of travel business, by contracting with the Railway Lines and Shipping Companies to use Kirby Travel as a ‘Ticketing Agent’ . When the air travel started – Kirby Travel was one of the first in the world to become an accredited travel agent.
Earl Kirby became very successful by offering individual travel, corporate travel as well as packaged tours to special events, such as Kentucky Derby, Indy 500 as well as overseas tours. He also purchased a large cruise liner and started ‘Kirby Cruise Line’, cruising the Great Lakes for many years.
In 1974, Kirby Travel and Tour was acquired by the current owner Shakil Khan, owner of Capitol Travel in Windsor & Toronto (Canada), from J. Robert Kirby, son of Earl Kirby. Bob had taken over the family business from his father, and continued to manage Kirby Travel until his death 14 years later.
With his extensive travel experience and knowledge of the travel business, Bob Kirby was known as the ‘Dean of the Travel Agents’.
With help from Bob Kirby, and under the leadership of Shakil Khan, Kirby expanded into a myriad of outbound tours all over the world, including Safari’s in Africa, Tours of India, the Middle East, China, Japan, Thailand and other exotic destinations.
Kirby Tours created a niche market, and has been famous for the ‘Off-The-Beaten-Track’ exclusive independent tours, and “Incentive Travel”.
In early 1980’s, Kirby Tours expanded into ‘Inbound’ tours, setting up offices in London, Tokyo, New Delhi, Santo Domingo, and Hong Kong, besides local offices in all major cities in Canada and USA, to successfully market both inbound and outbound tours.
Kirby Tours also purchased 14 deluxe motor coaches and acquired ‘Shore Line Tours’, a long established motor-coach tour operator, based in Denton, Maryland, and Heartland Bus Company of Michigan. With a large number of 12-Passenger Vans & Limousine, Kirby started a daily sightseeing tour in Detroit, Michigan and a regular Airport shuttle in Metro Detroit.
The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, unfortunately halted all inbound and outbound travel. Unlike many other large tour operators, Kirby Tours was financially strong to survive, but lost millions of dollars and had to close its foreign, and coast-to-coast offices to survive.
The company was split into a retail – Kirby Preferred Travel, operated by Filip Khan, son of Shakil Khan, and Kirby Tours, the wholesale operation is being operated by Shakil Khan.
With the Tourism Industry slowly growing, Kirby Tours continues its activities in both inbound and outbound tours, including meetings/conventions and incentive programs.
Welcome to Kirby Tours – One of the oldest tour operator in the United States, ready to celebrate our 100th anniversary in 2019.
Established on February 21, 1919, Kirby Travel & Tours was established by Earl Kirby, a hotelier who pioneered the concept of travel business, by contracting with the Railway Lines and Shipping Companies to use Kirby Travel as a ‘Ticketing Agent’ . When the air travel started – Kirby Travel was one of the first in the world to become an accredited travel agent.
Earl Kirby became very successful by offering individual travel, corporate travel as well as packaged tours to special events, such as Kentucky Derby, Indy 500 as well as overseas tours. He also purchased a large cruise liner and started ‘Kirby Cruise Line’, cruising the Great Lakes for many years.
In 1974, Kirby Travel and Tour was acquired by the current owner Shakil Khan, owner of Capitol Travel in Windsor & Toronto (Canada), from J. Robert Kirby, son of Earl Kirby. Bob had taken over the family business from his father, and continued to manage Kirby Travel until his death 14 years later.
With his extensive travel experience and knowledge of the travel business, Bob Kirby was known as the ‘Dean of the Travel Agents’.
With help from Bob Kirby, and under the leadership of Shakil Khan, Kirby expanded into a myriad of outbound tours all over the world, including Safari’s in Africa, Tours of India, the Middle East, China, Japan, Thailand and other exotic destinations.
Kirby Tours created a niche market, and has been famous for the ‘Off-The-Beaten-Track’ exclusive independent tours, and “Incentive Travel”.
In early 1980’s, Kirby Tours expanded into ‘Inbound’ tours, setting up offices in London, Tokyo, New Delhi, Santo Domingo, and Hong Kong, besides local offices in all major cities in Canada and USA, to successfully market both inbound and outbound tours.
Kirby Tours also purchased 14 deluxe motor coaches and acquired ‘Shore Line Tours’, a long established motor-coach tour operator, based in Denton, Maryland, and Heartland Bus Company of Michigan. With a large number of 12-Passenger Vans & Limousine, Kirby started a daily sightseeing tour in Detroit, Michigan and a regular Airport shuttle in Metro Detroit.
The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, unfortunately halted all inbound and outbound travel. Unlike many other large tour operators, Kirby Tours was financially strong to survive, but lost millions of dollars and had to close its foreign, and coast-to-coast offices to survive.
The company was split into a retail – Kirby Preferred Travel, operated by Filip Khan, son of Shakil Khan, and Kirby Tours, the wholesale operation is being operated by Shakil Khan.
With the Tourism Industry slowly growing, Kirby Tours continues its activities in both inbound and outbound tours, including meetings/conventions and incentive programs.