Discover Specialist
Serving over 2 million customers annually, our 3,000-strong team offers products that cater to Destination Specialist, Premium and Lifestage markets in:
- North America
- UK & Ireland
- Europe
- China
- Russia
Focus
This is a modern, exciting and very competitive market. The reason our companies succeed is that, whatever their business model and strategy, they all share certain characteristics. These include:
- Flexibility in aircraft and accommodation contracts - Typically a reverse charter model with third party airlines (aircraft based in destination not source market) and less than 50% of seat capacity contracted.
- Low overhead infrastructure - Administration and management are maintained at the optimum level to support the business but maximise margins.
Our Four Markets:
1. North America
This area comprises 15 companies located across the USA and in major Canadian cities. The businesses are targeted at leisure, educational and performance group travel and include Starquest, Travcoa, TCS Expeditions, Europe Express, Studentcity.com and KSA events.
2. United Kingdom & Ireland
The enlarged UK & Ireland Specialist Division encompasses a range of luxury long-haul and escorted tours companies such as Sovereign, Hayes and Jarvis, Austravel, Travelmood and Thomson Worldwide. It also includes Ireland specialists, such as American Holidays.
3. Continental Europe
This area includes companies that are destination specialists or offer luxury tailor-made products, online distribution and long-haul travel such as Easy Market, Royal Vacaciones, Ambassador Tours and Turchese.
4. Emerging Markets
This sector focuses on participating in large, emerging, fast growing markets such as Eastern Europe, China and India. In Russia, for example, TUI Travel PLC already has a 34% sharehold in Mostravel, one of the leading tour operators in the market. This caters for an increasingly wealthy population with a desire for travel and tourism.