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Two European OTAs announce merger
Two Athens-based online travel agents, Tripsta and airtickets, have merged.
Tripsta sells flights and travel insurance while airtickets sells flights, hotel accommodation, car rental, transfer, as well as tours and activities worldwide.
The pair claim the merger marks a ‘significant shift’ in the hierarchy of Europe’s OTA power-players.
They say the newly-united company becomes the largest OTA in South Eastern Europe and one of the five largest in Europe.
The status of the new company is particularly significant for Greece, as it becomes the largest e-commerce company in the country.
The new joint company is forecast to command sales of more than €500 million.
Both companies will continue to operate under their existing brands with new CEO Philipp Brinkman (formerly CEO of Tripsa), and president of the Board of airtickets Dimitris Kontogeorgos, continuing to run the management team.
The combined companies will have offices in Greece, Russia, Romania, Poland, Turkey and Brazil.
Brinkmann said: "The European OTA market is very fragmented and, as such, consolidation is a key driver for our future success. Therefore, we will see more of these activities in the market in the future."
Kontogeorgos added: "The commercial synergies between both our businesses made a clear argument for a merger. We will be far stronger together and it will mean we can make wider and deeper investments in important technologies for customers."
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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