Travel Leaders Group and ALTOUR have announced an agreement to merge - a move that will create a massive travel agency organization representing close to $24 billion US ($30 billion CA) in annual sales.
Both companies, however, will continue to use their names, and there will be no change in management or staffing.
Alexandre Chemla, founder, president and CEO of ALTOUR, will remain in that role, while Ninan Chacko will continue to serve as Travel Leaders Group CEO.
After the deal is closed, Chemla will become a shareholder and join the Board of Directors of Travel Leaders Group Holdings.
Travel Leaders Group and ALTOUR, both of which are private companies, would not disclose financial details of the merger.
"The leadership at Travel Leaders Group and at ALTOUR recognize that by coming together as one entity, we can offer greater opportunities to our agents and to our supplier partners, which in turns allows us to better serve the traveling public," said Ninan Chacko, CEO of Travel Leaders Group. "When you take into account each of our travel agency groups and brands, the size and scope of what we can offer business, luxury and leisure travel agents and clients is truly unparalleled."
"Although we will be doing business as usual, before the merger we were owned and operated by separate companies," Chacko continued. "Post-merger we will have one owner in the sense that the holding of assets of our operations will be from the same set of investors, under Travel Leaders Group Holdings. It is also important to note that our merger will be complete only after regulatory approval.
"That big number, $24 billion [US]." is the reason behind the merger, said Barry Noskeau, ALTOUR executive vice-president. "The goal is to be able to leverage that combined volume for best-in-class deals for our customers.
"Suppliers want something more than they can do themselves; you either need volume or a boutique aspect of a business to get their attention." Noskeau continued. "You have to give them something more than they can get themselves. Volume will give us that advantage although we will still have to prove ourselves."
Travel Leaders Group-with annual sales of more than $21 billion US - manages leisure, business and franchise travel operations under a variety of brands, including All Aboard Travel, Andrew Harper Travel, Colletts Travel, Corporate Travel Services, CruCon Cruise Outlet, Cruise Specialists, Nexion, Protravel International, SinglesCruise.com, Travel Leaders Corporate, Travel Leaders Network, and Tzell Travel.
With sales of $2.6 billion in 2016, ALTOUR is an independently-owned travel management company in the luxury and mid-market space. It's based in the U.S. but is a global company with a strong presence in the U.K.
"Travel Leaders Group already had a presence in the U.K.," said Chacko.
"We have a presence there under Travel Leaders Network and Andrew Harper, as well as a significant presence with Colletts Travel. That ALTOUR has a sizable hold on the market in the U.K. definitely means more growth for us there. However, Travel Leaders Group has been expanding in other countries as well, such as our presence in Mexico with Corporate Travel Services and our positioning in Canada."
In Canada, Travel Leaders Group operates under the Travel Leaders Network and Nexion brands. ALTOUR, however, does not have a presence in Canada.
In addition to travel management services, ALTOUR companies include ALTOUR Air, ALTOUR Tech, ALTOUR Meetings and Incentives, and the ALTOUR Global Network.
Travel Leaders Group has a strong presence in both leisure and corporate travel through its numerous leisure, business and franchise travel companies.
"ALTOUR handles both corporate and leisure. However, its strength in corporate travel does give us a strong foothold in corporate travel," said Chacko. "We can both learn from each other, as we begin to discuss best practices."
The majority of ALTOUR'S business is corporate travel but also about eight to 10 per cent is leisure, said Noskeau. The leisure side includes 20 brick and mortar locations throughout the Midwest operating under the name The Travel Authority. It also has ten American Express offices throughout the country that it acquired in 2009, all of which are primarily leisure-oriented.
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