About Us

Founded in 2005, In The Footsteps has grown into one of the UK's premier tour operators offering Battlefield, Heritage, and Family History tours. Their award-winning service is guaranteed to meet and may even exceed your expectations.

In The Footsteps® was founded in 2005 by Ian R Gumm when he turned his hobby and passion into a part-time business and started leading Genealogy Tours to the battlefields of France and Flanders.

From these humble beginnings, In The Footsteps grew to include more general battlefield tours and in 2007 became Ian's full-time occupation.

By 2009, it had become too big for him to run on his own and it was at that point that Jo Gumm came on board, as a partner as our Managing Director, to manage the administration, while Ian continued to research and lead tours on the battlefield.

Under their joint direction, the business continued to grow and in 2010 they began recruiting additional historians and guides to lead their tours.

Heritage tours were added to their portfolio in 2015 and Family History tours in 2024.

Today, their team of historians and guides are able to cover the major battlefields around the globe, including many of the lesser-known ones, and the heritage sites of the United Kingdom. They lead tours following in the footsteps of an ancestor or relative on our Family History tours.

Meet the team

Ian Gumm

CEO / Chief Historian and Guide

Ian is the co-founder of In The Footsteps Tours Limited and our Chief Executive Officer.

Ian is a full-time professional military historian and guide; a former Chair and an accredited (badged) member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides; a member of the Society for Army Historical Research (SAHR), Battlefields Trust, Western Front Association, and Last Post Association.

Jo Gumm

Managing Director

Jo is the co-founder of In The Footsteps Tours Limited and our Managing Director.

It is Jo that coordinates all of our operations, from handling the initial enquiry through to the final booking, the allocation of historians and tour managers, and the selection of hotels. She leads our customer service and liaison team, and it is one Jo's team with whom our customers will initially interact.

Meet the Team

Our team of Historians and Guides

You can meet our team by visiting Our Team of Historians and Guides page.

Why Travel With In The Footsteps®

In The Footsteps Tours Limited have 20 years’ experience in designing and providing top quality tours to destinations across the United Kingdom, Europe, and many other destinations around the world. Our award-winning service is second to none and our team of historians and guides are recognised for their excellence. On an In The Footsteps® tour you can be sure that your enjoyment and satisfaction are guaranteed.

In The Footsteps Tours Limited activities are bound by the Package Travel and Linked Arrangements Regulations 2018 and all monies paid to us are held in a Travel Trust Association holding account. Our tours are ATOL protected where a flight is included within your package and covered by the TTA's Standalone Safe Seat Plan Guarantee if your packages does not include a flight.

ATOL Registered

All the flights and flight-inclusive holidays supplied by In The Footsteps Tours Limited are financially protected by the ATOL scheme.

When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, hotels and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions for further information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to www.caa.co.uk.

TTA Member

All packages that do not include a flight within them are protected by the TTA's Standalone Safe Seat Plan Guarantee.

Here’s how it works. The TTA set up a Trust Account on our behalf, where all your monies are held in trust and only used to pay for your holiday. This means that, if In The Footsteps Tours Limited became insolvent, the TTA will make sure that your holiday continues as planned, or that you are fully reimbursed. For more information visit The Travel Network Group.