Flight Centre this morning announced it had finalised its acquisition of hotel management company, Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia (BHMA).
The acquisition, Flight Centre’s first dip into the accommodation pool, was announced on July 7, along with buying Mexico-based DMC Olympus Tours, and upping its stake in recent DMC acquisition, Buffalo Tours.
Earlier this year, FC bought a bigger – 58.5 per cent bigger – stake in the Buffalo Tours venture, and put plans in place to increase this ownership in 2018.
Flight Centre has been very busy in the industry lately, what with its acquisition sweepstake, streamlining of APAC operations, and of course its infamous Global Gathering just last week.
Founder and Managing Director Skroo Turner said, “Expanding our in-destination network is a key global strategy and we are starting to develop strong foundations in this sector through our tour operators, DMCs and hotel management businesses.”
Turner added that by expanding in this in-destination area, they gain a number of advantages, with possibly the most important being “the opportunity to capture a larger share of the travel wallet”.
Turner also admitted FC has not typically captured the biggest chunk of in-destination spend.
The Buffalo Tours and Olympus Tours destination management companies (DMCs), together generate around US$100 million in revenue annually. Their services include transfers, excursions, day-trips, meetings and incentive arrangements for groups, cruises and other tour group offerings.
The Flight Centre Travel Group now includes
- Top Deck and Back-Roads touring businesses
- Buffalo Tours and Olympus Tours (who’s acquisition is set to be finalised in first quarter of FY18)
- Bespoke Hospitality Management Asia, which currently operates 14 properties in Thailand and has another 19 signed properties under development in Thailand and Vietnam.
