Travcorp outlines SHG brand plans Lucy Huxley


Travcorp Holdings chief executive Andy Freeth has outlined plans to strengthen newly acquired brands American Holidays, Citalia and Sovereign Luxury Travel, with ambitions including expanding the operators’ product ranges and introducing “sharper” pricing. The deal to acquire the Specialist


Holidays Group brands from Travelopia was announced on July 16. Freeth said he would continue


learning more about the brands before implementing any changes, but added: “We’ll be making sure we can broaden the current offering and we’ll make the prices a bit sharper.” He noted that such a move could be achieved by drawing on the scale


of the whole Travcorp Holdings portfolio, which also includes Destination2, Destination2 Cruise and Holiday Gems. He said: “With Sovereign at


the moment, if they’re trying to sell Dubai through the trade, the channels through which they’ve been acquiring their product will be very different to what we’ve been doing in Destination2, so it makes obvious sense to put that product in. “There will be better rates


because of the tactical relationships we’ve got with many partners across the Middle East.” Caribbean product with “fantastic


rates” could also be added to the Sovereign offering, he said. Simon Garrido, UK and Ireland sales director for Specialist Holidays


Hays Travel targets more acquisitions after Cruise.co deal


Lucy Huxley


Hays Travel is considering further acquisitions to bolster its long-haul and specialist business after striking a deal to take over Cruise.co.uk parent Victoria Travel Group. The company previously outlined


a strategy to develop its long-haul and cruise sales so each makes up a third of its business alongside short-haul. Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, owner and chair Dame Irene Hays said the future of travel agents lay in booking more-complex, higher-value holidays, which also contributed to higher margins.


4 31 JULY 2025 Hays said the company would


continue to grow through acquisitions as well as organically, adding: “We are not moving away from short-haul. In fact, we are continuing to grow it significantly, but at the same time we are elevating cruise and long-haul. “In the future, the preference


would be acquisitions in the long- haul and cruise area.” The Victoria Travel Group deal


is the agency’s first OTA acquisition and includes the Seascanner brand and German cruise division Kreuzfahrtberater.de in addition to Cruise.co.uk. It is Hays’ seventh acquisition since


2019 and follows its recent acquisition of 12-branch Spear Travels as well as Miles Morgan Travel, Travel House and Just Go Travel in recent years. Existing chief executive Chris


Gardner will continue to lead Victoria Travel Group as a standalone business, with Hays chief operating officer Jonathon Woodall-Johnston joining its board alongside Hays non- executive director and experienced cruise executive Jo Rzymowska. Dame Irene described the deal


for an established business with a total transaction value last year of £252 million as “significant and clear-cut”, adding it would offer Hays


There will be better


rates because of the tactical relationships we’ve got with partners across the Middle East


Group, agreed there was potential to expand the range at Sovereign, which mainly sells single-centre trips. “We can probably grow Sovereign


[product] a little bit with some of the Caribbean side of things and the Indian Ocean and the UAE,” he said, noting there would also be opportunities to add twin-centre trips. Sovereign’s trade sales currently


account for considerably less of its overall business than Citalia’s, whose trade sales account for 45% of


total business, and the traditionally Ireland-focused American Holidays, whose trade figure is about 35%. Efforts over the past year to grow


American Holidays’ UK business would continue, Garrido said. “We want to get the American


Holidays product to the same level as Citalia’s,” he added. Freeth said Travcorp would first


focus on developing “best practice” across the acquired brands, including considering centralising finance functions and installing the same technology across all operations.


Watch the interview with Freeth and Garrido at: travelweekly.co.uk


Dame Irene Hays and Chris Gardner


a ready-made platform to expand its online presence and test the water of operating in an overseas market. She said the two businesses


were complementary but “played in different spaces”, with Hays focused on future seasons and Cruise.co.uk “more successful in selling closer to sailing”. Gardner said the deal offered the


business “a new long-term home” after 20 years of private equity investment.


Watch the interview with Hays and Gardner at: travelweekly.co.uk


travelweekly.co.uk


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