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Club Med fears ¤8m Africa hit
UNREST IN Tunisia and Egypt is set to cost Club Med up to ¤8m after it temporarily closed resorts in the countries. The company closed its resorts in Djerba la Douce on January 14 and its two Egyptian resorts Sinai Bay and El Gouna on January 28. All have now reopened. Releasing first-quarter results to the end of
January, Club Med said the impact on revenue for the quarter would be between ¤5m to ¤8m. However, the overall results saw revenue
increase by 14.6% to ¤337m, a net increase in customers of 21,000 or 9%, and a 9.7% increase in bookings for the year to date up to February 26. Chief executive Henry Giscard d’Estaing said:
“Our first-quarter performance reflects the return to growth we have seen since summer 2010.” The increase in customers was focued on its four and five-Trident resorts, where 36,000 more customers were recorded, an increase of 22%. This was despite the closure of Sinai Bay, one of the most recently opened four-Trident resorts.
The Far East helps Mandarin recover
MANDARIN ORIENTAL Hotel Group reported a 54% increase in pre-tax profits for the year to the end of December on the back or recovery in its key markets. Revival in markets such as Hong Kong boosted
profits from $88m in 2009 to $136m last year. Strongest performances were in Asia and in
Hong Kong, where revenue per available room (revpar) at the Mandarin Oriental and The Excel- sior increased by 38% and 30% respectively. There was also a 31% improvement in revpar at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore. The group said its London property performed “satisfactorily”, despite the ash cloud and the construction of the adjacent One Hyde Park. Chairman Simon Keswick said: “We should benefit from the phased completion in coming years of hotels under development.” The group currently has 26 hotels worldwide, with another 16 under development.
16 11.03.2011
GTA to help Kuoni grow online sales
Chris Gray.
KUONI IS set to boost its online consumer sales by snapping up Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA). The operator has reached
agreement with GTA’s owner Travelport to acquire the desti- nation management services company for $720m. GTA’s main business is hotel
net cost to Kuoni will be $705m as GTA has $15m in cash which Kuoni will keep. The acquisition will be funded through a mixture of cash, bank debt and a rights issue. Travelport, which owns the Galileo
Rothwell: fast-growing segment
reservations, coach services, transfers and sightseeing for group and inde- pendent travellers. It mainly deals with the trade but does have a consumer arm in its Octopus website.
The deal will also see Kuoni take over Octopus, which the company said would “further strengthen Kuoni’s existing online consumer activities”. Chief executive Peter Rothwell said part of the
reason for the purchase was the accelerating trend of business and leisure customers organ- ising trips online rather than using an agent. “In acquiring GTA, Kuoni is investing in one of the fastest-growing business segments within the tourism industry,” he said. GTA also has a strong presence in Asia and the Middle East and will aid Kuoni’s expansion in those regions. The deal is expected to complete in May. The
Kuoni GTA deal: key figures
and Worldspan GDS companies and has been considering a stock market flotation, said the proceeds of the sale would be used to pay down debt. Travelport has net debt of
$2.7bn. It will report results for the year to the end of December on March 30, when it expects to reveal pre-tax profits of $545m and net revenue of $2bn, excluding GTA. Chief executive Jeff Clarke said the sale was
part of a strategy of making the most of Travel- port’s core businesses. “While GTA is a leader in its field with a strong
proposition, this is a positive opportunity for us to accelerate our plans,” he said. “Kuoni is a well known and long-term customer of Travelport and our aim will be to work in partnership with them to improve further the distribution and sale of the combined Kuoni/GTA inventory across the Travelport subscriber network.” The acquisition follows Kuoni’s purchase of
Swedish luxury tour operator Lime Travel (TTG March 4).
020 7921 8011
rgill@ttglive.com
Rob Gill
$720m purchase price
where GTA operates 26 cities
hotels offered through GTA 35,000 hotel nights booked through GTA in 2010 12 million
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