About Us
At World Class Tours, we’re dedicated to developing unique, interactive, and memorable travel experiences for students, teams, troupes, as well as adult groups.
Serving clients located in Western Canada and facilitating travel to all parts of the globe!
35+ years of experience
Betty Kadatz started putting together educational tours for school groups in the Edmonton area in 1985.
In 1996, Betty started World Class Tours in order to serve more than just school groups.
Our philosophy
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness – all foes to real understanding. Likewise, tolerance, or broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in our little corner of the earth all one lifetime.
-Mark Twain
In an effort to learn more about the world and its people, travel has been a lifelong pursuit of ours. Like Mark Twain, we believe in leaving “our little corner of the earth” to broaden our horizons.
Given the fact that our world is shrinking and we are becoming more of a “global village,” we believe it is more important than ever for us to understand the world’s diversity.
Personalized experience
We pride ourselves in offering hands-on trip management from start to finish with a personal touch. As a small, local business, you deal with us personally every step of the way.
From the planning phase all the way to your return home, we are available for all your group travel needs.
- Answering questions about any part of your trip planning process
- Curating custom itineraries and offering recommendations
- Making whatever arrangements that you require at your destination(s) – whether it’s just a couple of things or a full-fledged schedule
- Setting up tours, purchasing admissions, etc.
- Arranging transportation and travel insurance as required
- Providing advice on visas, group safety, currency exchange, etc.
- On call 24/7 for emergencies while groups are away
Immersive adventures
When designing our tours, much thought and preparation is dedicated to making the culture and history come alive. Our groups are not on whirlwind tours, observing the lands they are visiting from behind the windows of buses. We believe you should be active participants in the new cultural milieu.
For example, we like to give groups the opportunity to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, barter with the vendors at the various markets, sit on the Spanish steps in Rome, walk through Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey in London, use the public transportation systems to explore their host cities, and sample the wonderful local ethnic cuisine.
Educational expertise
We’ve been an approved provider for Edmonton Public Schools since 1996 and are well-versed in all the requirements behind taking a group of students abroad.
Additionally, all key employees at World Class Tours have a background in education – with a combined 68+ years of teaching experience! This combination makes us uniquely qualified for curating educational tours for student groups of all kinds.
- Tour itineraries that satisfy curriculum requirements and will meet school board approval
- Safe learning environment outside of the classroom
- Unique options for your unique student group
- Experiences that will have a positive, lifelong impact
Custom tours for any group
While we may have our roots in educational tours, that’s not the only thing we do. We offer tours for any age groups and can curate a custom trip to suit pretty much any goals, interests, or hobbies.
- Tournaments and competitions
- World War / battlefields
- Art and architecture
- Other special historical interests
- Food and beverage
- Gardens of the world
- Cycling
- And so many more!
Learn more about team trips or custom group tours.
Who we are…
Betty and Lyle Kadatz
Betty caught the travel bug at a young age. She was just out of high school when she travelled to Paris to study French at the Sorbonne University for a year. Subsequently, she taught French with Elk Island Public Schools. During the four years she taught, she led her own student groups to Europe and experienced first-hand the benefits, excitement and educational value travel provided her students.
In 1985, Betty left teaching and began working for Encore Adventure Holidays as a travel planner and group tour escort for educational school groups. She found that there were not many companies who offered custom tours for individual groups’ needs. It became her goal to offer quality tours for all groups no matter what their needs entailed.
In 1996, she branched out to start her own travel company, World Class Tours, and since then has been sending people on adventures all over the world. Her expertise and love of all things travel have since led her to organize many, many custom group tours for student groups, teams, book clubs, travel clubs, gardening clubs, family reunions, and more.
Lyle taught English, Art and Drama to junior high and high school students for 24 years before becoming a school administrator for eight years with the Elk Island Public School Board. He has organized and led several student groups both as a teacher supervisor and a tour escort to Europe, Asia, and Australia over the past thirty years.
Lyle also has a diploma in architecture which has led him to his love of travel. His favourite tour was a trip to Egypt in 2005 because of the ancient culture and diversity in the monuments and sites. Both Lyle and Betty are avid, experienced travellers and have visited an extensive number of countries on six continents. And the bucket list is still full of places to experience.
Cheryl Lewis
Cheryl has had many different roles in the education sector in Alberta. She worked as a French teacher in both junior and senior high schools with Edmonton Public Schools (EPSB). During her teaching years, she was a lead teacher, organizer and supervisor of multiple tours to Europe with secondary students and was a Department Head of Second Languages, Art, Drama, and Music.
In addition to her career as a teacher, she spent several years working as a curriculum and resource developer for FSL with Alberta’s Department of Education as well as a consultant of Second Languages with EPSB. During that time, she was also a second language-focused workshop presenter and facilitator for various consortia in Alberta and across Canada.
On top of all of this, she has held an official role as a custom tour researcher, designer and tour escort with World Class Tours for over 30 adult educational tours on almost every continent. The list of places that she has visited with her ‘Globetrotters’ is very impressive!
The Globetrotter Travel Group
The Globetrotter group began in 1995 when Cheryl organized her first custom tour to Paris. Since then, her passion for travel has led her to research, design and personally escort over 30 unique tours for small groups of like-minded travellers. Together they have shared adventures on land and on rivers on almost every continent.
Highlights of her many tours include Croatia, Malta, Peru, Kenya, Vietnam, Egypt, India and New Zealand to name only a few. Where will you find the Globetrotters in future? South Korea, Costa Rica? Time will tell…
Learn more about joining the Globetrotters group on their next trip here.