investment in travel


up its agenda? It wouldn’t surprise me if something suddenly comes out about it.” Keys insisted: “Travel will continue


to be an attractive sector. Due diligence processes seem to take a lot longer now and require a lot more work, and [changes to] regulation could put investors off slightly. But as long as investors remain comfortable with the scenarios, it will remain a sector of interest. “As long as people continue to


prioritise discretionary spending on travel, there will be investor demand. Trends in holidays and destinations move around, but people always want to travel.” Asked what sectors of travel are


of most interest to investors, she said: “There is increased consumer appetite for long-haul and luxury, so those areas will attract interest, and hotels are still going great guns. People want to invest in hotels and that will continue.”


DEALS EXPECTED IN 2025 The first quarter of 2025 was expected to see the sale of Hotelplan, put up for sale by parent Migros in February last year as the Swiss cooperative sought to refocus on its core retail and financial services businesses. The German Dertour Group, which


owns Kuoni parent Der Touristik, was expected to acquire Hotelplan, with either UK-based private equity-owned vacation rentals and resorts business Awaze or Berlin-based accommodation rental platform HomeToGo acquiring holiday rental business Interhome. The Hotelplan group comprises not


only Hotelplan UK and specialist operators Inghams, Explore and Santa’s Lapland, but also Switzerland’s largest travel company Hotelplan Suisse and travel management companies Finass Reisen and BTA First Travel. German retail giant Rewe, which owns Dertour, confirmed in September it was “looking at Hotelplan” and expressed confidence the takeover would be signed off by competition authorities. Online travel agent Loveholidays,


now the UK’s third-largest Atol holder with a licence for more than four million


As long as people continue to prioritise discretionary spending on travel, there will be investor demand


FIGURE 55: RISKS TO BUSINESS IN 2025 Average ratings by CFOs on scale of 0-100


Rising geopolitical risks Inflation


Rising interest rates Weak UK economy High energy prices


Effects of climate change Labour shortages


Weak US economy Supply chain disruption Poor UK-EU relations


Weak eurozone economy Weak emerging economies


33% 44% 37% 65%


47% 48%


55%


44% 44% 46%


44% 44%


% age point change YoY


-6 +2


-3 -1


-10 -4 -7 -3


+1 -3


+2 +3


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 %


Source: Deloitte CFO Survey, Q4 2024


GEOPOLITICAL risks were the greatest concern to


chief financial officers going into 2025 (Figure 55)


package holidaymakers, was also expected to be the subject of a sale this year by majority owner Livingbridge. The PE fund acquired the business in 2018. US asset management company Apollo


acquired The Travel Corporation from the founding Tollman family in July last year in one of the biggest deals of the year. The Travel Corporation’s 18 brands include tour operator Trafalgar, youth specialist Contiki and guided tour operator Insight Vacations. Details of the deal were not disclosed, and the Tollman family retained control of Red Carnation Hotels. In other deals, PE firm Risk


Capital Partners acquired specialist operator Simpson Travel in March and Soho Square Capital invested in Newmarket Holidays in October. However, British Airways and Iberia


parent IAG terminated a €400 million deal to acquire Spanish carrier Air Europa from Globalia after concluding “the regulatory environment” in the EU was too hostile, although IAG retains a 20% stake. In the US, -HW%OXH $LUZD\V SXOOHG RXW RI D


bELOOLRQ


takeover of Spirit Airlines after the deal was blocked. Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.


Travel Weekly Insight Report 2025 37


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