ebookers bags longhaul specialist
Ebookers has bought longhaul specialist, Travelbag for £55 million.
Ebookers chief executive, Dinesh Dhamija (pictured) told TravelMole: “There is very little overlap between ebookers and Travelbag, because they are Australasia specialists and we sell more to the US. So there is good synergy, and the three Travelbag brands will be retained.”
Mr Dhamija told TravelMole that Travelbag will be integrated along the same lines as Flightbookers, with many administrative and IT functions outsourced to India. He said: “All the donkey work is done in India.”
The brands will retain separate sales and marketing teams, and Mr Dhamija told TravelMole that the Travelbag management would be staying on.
Travelbag specialises in trips to Australia and New Zealand, and in adventure travel. The average transaction value is £1,450, almost three times that of ebookers, which is £565. Travelbag sells about 98 percent longhaul, and ebookers about 70 percent.
Travelbag has three brands; Travelbag, Bridge the World, and Travelbag Adventures. It has annual sales of £200 million, almost doubling the potential sales revenue for ebookers to £500 million.
Mr Dhamija told TravelMole that ebookers was still on target for reaching £1 billion sales in two years through acquisition and organic growth; a target set in Spring last year. He said: “You need scale or you can’t compete”.
Mr Dhamija told TravelMole that it was unlikely that ebookers would make any more acquisitions in the first quarter of 2003. He said: “We’ll digest this one then look. It is no good just acquiring, you must show the market you can synergise”. On whether ebookers was interested in acquiring MyTravel’s short break operator, Cresta, he said: “We were interested in October; we are no longer interested”.
When asked about competitors, lastminute.com, Mr Dhamija said: “They have their own acquisition strategy, and we have ours. We go for bricks and mortar companies and internetise them. They go their way, and we ours. There is room for two of us”.
Read our previous stories:
14-Jan-2003 MyTravel to sell Cresta?
11-Nov-2002 Ebookers results point to profit in 2003
13-Aug-2002 ebookers on course for the black in 2003
12-June-2002 <A
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