The Swiss trading company Migros, best known for its supermarkets, wants to sell its travel subsidiary Hotelplan Group. Migros wants to focus on its core business and divest itself of several subsidiaries, including the Hotelplan Group, the Mibelle Group (Personal Care & Beauty) and specialist stores.
Hotelplan is Switzerland’s largest travel group, with a turnover of 1.73 billion Swiss francs, or 1.85 billion euros.
Hotelplan Group also includes Interhome Group, with the Interhome and Inter Chalet brands, and Germany’s Vtours, which was acquired in 2019. Hotelplan is also active as a tour operator in Great Britain.
“Because Migros is no longer the ideal owner due to its strategic focus, it wants to carefully look for suitable buyers. We are specifically looking for new owners who have a strong foundation to successfully advance these ventures,” Migros said in a statement on Friday.
Selling travel has shifted to very large international or specialized travel companies, where size is decisive, Mirgos says.
The Hotelplan Group may be Switzerland’s largest travel company, but globally the company is a relatively small player. In addition, synergies with the core activities of the Migros Group are limited.
According to Migros, Hotelplan has come out of the corona crisis strong, and has had a record turnover in 2022 and 2023.
Until a buyer is found, the activities of the subsidiaries will continue as usual. Nothing will change for customers and business partners, Migros emphasizes.
Migros wants to focus mainly on the retail (food and non-food), financial services (Migros Bank) and health (Medbase Group) sectors. (Photo Shutterstock).
