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First Choice buys North American student travel companies
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.
Report by Bev Fearis
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