Travello doubles down on youth market with acquisition of local OTA

Brisbane-based travel platform Travello has announced the acquisition of Australia and New Zealand’s largest youth online travel agency (OTA), Backpacker Deals.

The deal will see Travello and Backpacker Deals become the largest experience-based OTA focused on the youth market.

Commenting on the acquisition, Travello CEO Ryan Hanly said: “Backpacker Deals is a market leader in the youth vertical and they’ve built some great technology we haven’t seen in other companies.

“We have an aligned vision and demographic focus, so this just made perfect sense.

“Their market share and revenues have been growing aggressively over the last few years, and while they obviously suffered from the impacts of COVID, they are already seeing a strong recovery.

“We can’t see that stopping as people turn to online channels to book more and more of their travel journey.”

Dinesh Kaku, founder of Backpacker Deals, will join Travello as head of growth.

Kaku said he was excited about the scale both companies can achieve.

“The combination of Travello’s community and Backpacker Deals’ e-commerce focus is pretty irresistible,” he said.

“It will be exciting to scale this company and become the global leaders in youth travel.”

Travello’s acquisition comes not long after the platform announced a partnership with Flight Centre Travel Group.