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End of the road for Western & Oriental brand
Inspiring Travel Company has decided to swallow up the Western & Oriental brand, transferring its product over to its own brand.
From now, the Western & Oriental website will redirect users to www.inspiringtravelcompany.co.uk and all communications to Western & Oriental customers, suppliers and agents will begin using the Inspiring Travel Company name.
ITC Travel Group acquired Western and Oriental Travel in 2016 and said this is the next phase in its integration strategy.
It reassured agents, saying that all staff have been retained.
"The merging of Western & Oriental with Inspiring Travel Company will bring an extraordinary level of choice for our clients, offering our broadest ever selection of holidays under one banner and really setting us apart from the crowd," said Jennifer Atkinson, who was recently promoted from CEO to the role of chairman at ITC Travel Group.
Newly-appointed CEO Mal Barritt, who joined the business from Destinology in September 2017, is jointly leading the merge with Atkinson.
"It’s an exciting time for me to be taking the helm at ITC as we further strengthen our range of product and continue to invest in and grow our exceptional teams in Chester, London and beyond," he said.
"Tailor-made travel has been one of our strongest growth sectors in recent years and as the trend for the experiential increases and concepts of ‘luxury’ and ‘adventure’ cease to be mutually exclusive, it’s a logical next step for us to present our clients with an increased range of holiday options under our flagship Inspiring Travel Company brand."
The group said the integration of Western & Oriental brings in specialist knowledge of tailor-made travel to places like India, the US and the Far East.
Recently introduced destinations such as Latin America, Canada and the Philippines will continue to be developed, it said.
There are also plans to launch programmes to new areas including Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific over the next 12 months.
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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.
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