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TUI takes a slice of Hotelbeds back

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BANGKOK, 30 March 2018: Just two years after selling Hotelbeds Group for EUR 1.191 billion, TUI has bought back the destination management division for an enterprise value of EUR 110 million.

The buy back from Hotelbeds Group owner, Cinven and Canada Pension Fund, leaves Hotelbeds with its core bed-bank business.

Signed in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 28 March, the buy-back was concluded between Hotelbeds Group headquartered in Spain and the Spanish subsidiary TUI Destination Services.

Following the takeover, the Spanish TUI subsidiary will have a sales turnover of EUR 700 million and 9,000 employees located in 48 countries

TUI will acquire all of the assets of Hotelbeds Group´s Destination Management Division, which is made up of three main brands; Destination Services, Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services and Pacific World.

Destination Services include a variety of companies in Asia such as Turismo Thai Thailand, which has been rebranded twice, first to TUI Travel and then Hotelbeds Thailand in 2016 and will now revert to the TUI Travel brand.

The sale of Destination Management Services to TUI follows Hotelbeds Group doubling its revenue turnover in 2017 through the acquisitions of Tourico Holidays and GTA, two leading bed-banks with a strong presence in North America and Asia-Pacific.

The group will now focus on its core bed-bank business, which covers 170,000 hotels selling to over 60,000 travel intermediaries through its B2B technology platform.

Hotelbeds Group executive chairman Joan Vilà commented: “The sale represents yet another important milestone for our group since becoming an independent business in September 2016.  This simplified structure will enable us to focus fully on our bed-bank core”.

He stressed that Hotelbeds’ destination management division had been highly successful over the last 18 months, and that the buy-back offer was entirely on the initiative of TUI.

The Destination Management Division, headed by managing director, Jordi Cerdó, has more than 150 offices in 38 countries.

Destination Services, the B2B provider of incoming services to tour operators globally, is represented in 70 countries and handles around 2.2 million passengers a year.

Intercruises is a global ground handling and port agency business specialising in the cruise sector, offering services in around 60 countries covering over 400 ports. Every year Intercruises handles more than 12,000 port calls.

Pacific World is a meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) company operating in over 30 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Founded in 1980 in Hong Kong, Pacific World handles around 1,300 events per year globally.

Commenting on the acquisition, TUI Group CEO Fritz Joussen said: “The global market for these services is growing and offers considerable potential for TUI”

TUI’s destination services are growing around 7% year-on-year and arranging around 4.5 million excursions per year.

The transfer of Hotelbed’s “Destination Management” Division comes with around 2,600 employees working in offices in 25 countries, including Italy, Croatia, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada and many Asian countries.

In addition to excursions and transfers, tours and activities such as Segway tours, the division also offers the handling for cruise companies during port of calls.

TUI has the three cruise companies – TUI Cruises, Hapag Lloyd Cruises and Marella Cruises.

“The acquisition will bring commercial synergies to the group’s cruise line business”, commented Joussen.

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