Tour Partner Group to buy Nordic tour operator
Tour Partner Group, the holding company for Hotels & More, Irish Welcome Tours and Authentic Vacations, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nordic inbound tour operator Trans Nordic Tours.
The deal marks the first strategic initiative under recently appointed CEO Paul Maine, who joined the group in September from STA Travel where he was chief commercial officer
It also marks the group’s entry into the Nordic market and adds new source markets to its portfolio, capturing increasing demand from Asia, Australia, the Middle East and South America.
Denmark-based Trans Nordic Tours was launched in 1995 and is led by founders Yvonne and Pierre d’Hermilly.
With 41 staff it provides in-market services for consumers travelling to destinations throughout Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, Finland, the Baltics and Russia.
Harrow-based Hotels & More, which has been trading since 1996, was backed by UK-based investor Mayfair Equity Partners in 2015.
It owns Irish Welcome Tours based in Dublin and Authentic Vacations based in California, offering self-drive and chauffeur drive tours to Ireland and the UK from the B2C market in North America.
Tour Partner Group said it will continue to ‘evaluate acquisition targets that complement the group’s underlying organic growth, provide access to new geographies, and reinforce its leadership position in existing markets’.
CEO Paul Maine said: "With the global spotlight on the Nordic region as an exciting and year-round travel destination, I am delighted to be able to work alongside Yvonne and Pierre, and the whole Trans Nordic Tours team.
"With this acquisition, we have started to realise our vision to be the largest DMC in Europe, with a combined revenue of over €100m. We will continue to innovate our product offering within and across our destination markets, providing new opportunities for our customers, suppliers and employees."
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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