DON'T LIVE First Choice enters North American student travel market - TravelMole


DON’T LIVE First Choice enters North American student travel market

Friday, 26 Apr, 2006 0
First Choice has acquired four student travel companies in North America for £16 million.
The group, which announced the purchases as part of its trading update for the close period on April 30, said it had identified this market as a key growth area.
All four companies provide national curriculum based tours to 11 to 15-year-old middle and high school students, mainly to US destinations.
The first, Educational Tours, is based in Chicago and is the second largest educational tours operator in the US. “The acquisition has given the group a significant entry point into this market,” said the trading statement.
The others - School Voyageurs, Educa Tours and Jumpstreet Tours – are all Canadian educational tours operators.
First Choice also reported that in the five weeks since its last statement on March 23, sales of mainstream summer holidays have been up 7% over the last five weeks with peak season rates of sale and margins particularly strong. Cumulative sales for the summer are now 4% up on the same period last year, it said.
But in the specialist sector, summer sales have been broadly flat over the last five weeks, with cumulative summer sales for Europe 12% down on the same period last year.
“In the shoulder period of May and June, when margins are lower, the significant capacity reductions we have implemented have resulted in lower year-on-year comparable sales. In the high season, however, we have continued to see improved rates of sale and margins ahead of last year,” said the statement.
The group’s business-to-business accommodation provider, Hotelopia, has signed further contracts with bmi, bmibaby and Spanair, and will start providing accommodation for the three airlines from May.



 

profileimage

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.



Most Read

Mark Jaronski of Explore Georgia on FIFA World Cup 2026

Connecting Small Businesses to Global Tourism Markets: Nate Huff of Tourism Exchange

North Carolina’s Resilience: Wit Tuttell on Recovery and Tourism

Kittipong Prapattong’s Plan for Thailand’s Tourism Growth: Taxes, Visas, and Campaigns

James Jin: Didatravel’s Journey from China to Global Reach and the Impact of AI on Travel

Darien Schaefer on Pensacola’s Evolution: From Small Town to Global Destination

Florida Tourism’s Next Frontier: Dana Young on Expanding Beyond the Classics

Patrick Harrison on Tampa Bay Tourism’s Resilience and Marketing Strategy

Bubba O’Keefe on Clarksdale’s Vibrant Music Scene

Commemorating Elvis and Embracing Tupelo’s Culture with Jennie Bradford Curlee

Craig Ray and the Expansion of the Blues Trail

Presenting Mississippi’s Cultural Trails with Katie Coats
TRAINING & COMPETITION

Our emails to you has bounced travelmole.com Or You can change your email from your profile Setting Section

Your region selection will be saved in your cookie for future visits. Please enable your cookie for TravelMole.com so this dialog box will not come up again.

Price Based Country test mode enabled for testing United States (US). You should do tests on private browsing mode. Browse in private with Firefox, Chrome and Safari