GTA founder makes travel comeback
Gullivers Travel Associates founder David Babai has returned to the industry as chairman of a new travel company.
Babai sold GTA to Cendant (now Travelport) in 2005 for $1.1 bn and is re-entering the wholesale tourism business as chairman of G2 Travel.
He has put together a management team of former GTA staff, who have left senior positions in other travel companies to create the start-up.
G2 will concentrate on group travel, with the key origin markets of Asia, Middle East, Australia, North America and Europe.
The head office is in Hong Kong but the new company also has offices in Bangkok, Jakarta and London.
Babai said: "The emerging economies are growing rapidly and with new wealth comes the desire to travel abroad. For the inexperienced traveller, long haul destinations are incredibly exciting but a huge challenge owing to language barriers, cultural norms, difficulty in getting visas or simply the desire to find the food one likes to eat.
"Our team really understands how to deal with these issues and provide a memorable experience for the traveller at an acceptable price point, whilst earning a fair return for the effort and knowledge required."
After selling GTA Cendant, Babai signed a non compete agreement, which prevented him from re-entering the industry for six years.
Last April, almost on the expiration date of his restrictions, GTA was sold again, this time to Kuoni for $720m.
By Bev Fearis
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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