M.W. “Pete” and Audrey Bursch purchased the “Bus Depot Café” in Alexandria in 1956, serving travelers by selling Greyhound Bus tickets. Slowly that grew into airline tickets, steamship tickets, and eventually full vacation planning. As a result of consistently providing customers with reliable travel information and service, the travel agency outgrew the restaurant and bus depot business.

Fred Bursch took over company operations in 1977 and purchased the business in 1986. With his leadership, Bursch Travel grew beyond Alexandria. Today, Bursch Travel has 13 branch offices and 4 satellite offices in Greater Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska and is recognized as one of the largest privately owned travel companies in the Midwest.  Guided by the company mission to offer unsurpassed service to travelers, Fred's daughter, Lara (Bursch) Deppisch, is honored to become the 3rd generation owner of Bursch Travel as of January 2023.