Ambassadors International Inc., the Spokane-based specialty travel business, says it has added about 50 people here during the last 12 months.


Jeffrey Thomas, Ambassadors executive vice president and chief financial officer, says that the company, which operates educational, performance, and service divisions, has added about 50 positions in its educational division here and has replaced another about 25 people in that unit through attrition. Thomas says that people were brought on board to fill sales, operations, and production positions.


Ambassadors currently employs a total of 180 people at its headquarters here at 110 S. Ferrall, Thomas says. The company, which employs more than 300 people in all, also operates offices in Newport Beach, Calif., where its performance division is based, and in Atlanta, where its services division is based, he says.


The employment growth has been tied to remarkable growth in the educational unit, says Thomas, who also is president and CEO of that division. The educational division books trips for the People to People Ambassador Student Program, Ambassadors sports program, and professional exchanges, he says.


We set records this year in all three of our programs, and the early indicators point to continued growth next year, Thomas says.


This year, 14,600 students traveled abroad through the program, and 6,600 athletes participated in sports programs, compared with 13,000 students and 2,450 athletes last year. Thomas attributes the big jump in participation in the sports program to Ambassadors acquisition in June 1999 of Travel Dynamics Inc., an international youth sports travel company.


Also, 4,000 professionals have participated in overseas programs this year compared with fewer than 2,000 participants last year, Thomas says. He attributes that jump to revamped marketing efforts.


In the companys latest quarterly report, Ambassadors also said that recruiting for its 2001 student program is 25 percent ahead of this time last year.