Cruise1st snapped up by German OTA
Cruise specialist Cruise1st has been bought by Dreamlines, a German-headquartered online cruise portal for an undisclosed sum.
Dreamlines has operations in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Russia, Brazil and the US.
Manchester-based Cruise1st, which has operations in UK, Australia and Singapore, signals Dreamlines’ entry into the UK cruise market.
Felix Schneider, managing director of Dreamlines, said: "Entering the UK, the world’s third biggest cruise market by volume, is an important milestone within our global strategy.
"We are expanding our role in the market and will strengthen our position as the cruise OTA with the widest global footprint. Cruise1st enables us to offer our customers even more unique cruise holiday products and will grow our operator business, a key factor for our future success."
The deal also gives Dreamlines operations in Singapore and Australia. ‘Down under’ Dreamlines will operate two brands – CruiseAway and Cruise1st.
Cruise1st has 180 employees who will join the 400-strong team at Dreamlines.
Daniel Townsley, CEO of cruise1st, said: "The synergy between Cruise1st and Dreamlines was too great to overlook. Combining a hugely successful global OTA with our own proficiency and database of customers in the UK, Australia and Singapore will drive higher sales volumes and margins and deliver huge growth for the business."
In 2018 the Dreamlines group expects a global gross revenue of more than €400 million and claims it will be the largest cruise OTA outside the US market.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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