A number of travel industry heavyweights are joining together to launch a website consolidating the sale of cruises on small ships and riverboats.
Luzi Matzig, the Asian Trails CEO who sold a majority stake of his business to Kuoni in 2006, Peltours founder and CEO Stuart Lewis, Michael Goren of cultural tours specialist Group IST, and Lakis Venetopoulos, president and CEO of Variety Cruises, have collectively made an initial investment of $9m to finance the company, which has yet to be named.
When completed, the site will allow consumers to book a cruise in real time for stand-alone cruises or for any complete cruise packages.
It will also enable boat owners to upload and manage their capacity directly.
The venture will be headed by Daniela Wagner, as CEO, and Soren Langelund as COO.
Wagner was previously partner at International Tourism Organisation and before that was MD of OctopusTravel.
Langelund will be responsible for all the technology and operational aspects of the business. He wrote the business processes for Opodo prior to its launch.
Other directors include Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, Geoffrey Ognall, and Markus Deutsch, former president and CEO of Cendant Vacation Rental Group, now called Wyndham Worldwide.
Wagner said: “Small boat cruising is one of the last true niches left in the travel industry and there is a clear opportunity to captivate consumers by creating a state of the art booking site with comprehensive content.
“I am also greatly encouraged by the quality of talent and the high level of funding we have been able to attract at this very early stage.”
By: Bev Fearis
