Travelport has acquired a majority stake in German tour operator distribution company, travel-IT. The investment will significantly increase Travelport’s presence and reach in the German leisure travel industry, which at approximately €26 billion, is one of Europe’s largest.
A substantial portion of the leisure travel sector in Germany is comprised of tour operators offering their content, either on a pre-packaged or dynamically packaged basis. travel-IT provides a platform that enables the real time offer, search and booking of the unique content from all the major operators serving Germany, to consumers who purchase from travel retailers.
Juergen Witte, managing director in Germany and Switzerland, Travelport and managing director of travel-IT, said, “This is an exciting investment for Travelport. It will allow us to offer a full range of product and content for the largest economy in Europe, to both traditional and on-line retail travel agencies, supported by several of the leading tour operators in Germany. travel-IT offers some significant innovations to both travel agencies and tour operators which make the distribution and sale of leisure travel products better than older incumbent offerings.”
Michael Kalt, CEO, travel-IT, added, “Travelport is bringing with it real innovation that will transform our business for the long term. The investment marks a new milestone for our company and will increase revenue and growth for travel-IT and its partners. We plan to shake up the leisure sector and bring increased choice, flexibility and efficiency to tour operators, travel agencies and consumers.”
Over the past two years alone, Travelport has strategically invested over US$475 million in developing its travel commerce platform to address the trends, inefficiencies and unmet needs of the global travel industry. Travelport makes content available from some 400 network and low cost airlines, 600,000 individual hotel properties, all the major car rental companies and a host of other travel related content on its travel commerce platform.