Post XL: Revivals and mergers – tying up the loose ends in travel?
Things are moving fast, and loose ends are being tied up since the collapse of the XL Leisure Group, as these two interviews in Travel Trade Gazette reveal.
Travel City Direct
First off, XL’s Travel City Direct division, rescued by Virgin Holidays late last year, is set for a revival.
Amanda Wills, the managing director of Virgin Holidays, talked to Lucy Huxley about her plans for the company.
It’s good news for the Florida market, and means a lot of hotels there will re-contract with Virgin – and stay in business.
The question now is what will happen to XL’s Kosmar brand.
Below is a wordle (a graphical representation of the most popular words in a given piece of text) of the interview.
Gold Medal
Another development this week was Thomas Cook’s acquisition of Gold Medal. In TTG this week (digital edition here) the founder of Gold Medal, Ken Townsley, talks about the reasons behind the sale, in a “rags-to-riches”-style interview.
Apart from making a lot of money from the deal (which will also help fund a new charity) this move will help out a lot of independent travel agents.
Following XL’s collapse, agents suddenly had a lot fewer holidays to sell, but with Gold Medal now under Thomas Cook, it’s a lot more finanically secure. So as Gold Medal deals a lot with independent agents, this is a real boost for them.
Below is another wordle, taken from the interview.
