A well-known brand in the travel industry is bundling all its activities and brands under a new umbrella name: the TravelC Group BV as of November 2023. The retail branch, consisting of The Travel Club with the labels: The Travel Club, YourTravel, United Travel, HolidayPlanners, The Travel Company and ZRB (independent travel agencies), falls under this holding/ umbrella name. And now additionally the tour operator branch with the brands The Travel Company, Holidays, Pacific Island Travel, Cheap Campers, Impala Tours, TravelTime, Tour Planner and Casita Travel. Bundling under the new name also explains The Travel Club’s big jump in sales in TravMagazine’s recent Top 50. TravelC Group expects total sales of 318.5 million euros in 2023. In fiscal year 2022, only the sales of The Travel Club, YourTravel, United Travel, HolidayPlanners and The Travel Company were counted. Revenue from ITAC, which entered into a partnership with The Travel Club in December 2022, is also included in the new figures. The new partnership with TravelXL is still off the charts this year. The new name TravelC Group BV was introduced to avoid confusion, say Martine de Knoop and Don Kaspers, who together form the management of TravelC Group. ‘It’s an umbrella name for everything we do. We used to use the name The Travel Club as an umbrella name, but that caused confusion because The Travel Club is originally a brand name for ZRAs, in addition to our other ZRA labels. Our goal with TravelC Group is to connect a cohesive and dynamic group of travel companies that work together effectively and reinforce each other. The combined revenue provides more quality, better purchasing conditions and more opportunities for automation and shared services. Everything that is needed to ensure a successful future for our affiliated travel agents.” TravelC Group includes 400 ZRAs, its own 33 franchised travel agencies and a tour operator branch consisting of various brands. Separately, there is a partnership with TravelXL consisting of 35 offices. In addition, another 55 in-house employees (FTE) work at headquarters. De Knoop and Kaspers have statutory responsibility as directors. Given its broad portfolio of travel labels, the question is whether TravelC Group will go on an acquisition path. De Knoop: ‘We are always looking around to see if we can strengthen our position in the market with components that reinforce each other in our existing chain. But at the moment there are no concrete plans.’ www.travelcgroup.nl
