Buys out Balaji Tours & Travels, will grab more
MUMBAI: TravelPort India, one of the largest franchisee travel houses in the country,
has acquired complete ownership (100% stake) of Sri Balaji Tours and Travel for
Rs 5 crore.
TravelPort has strategic private equity investors funding
the company and the acquisition has been done with a mix of equity and cash. According
to Javed Akhtar, CEO of TravelPort, with the acquisition of Balaji Tours, the
company has become the largest domestic player in Goa.
“We
are planning to further infuse Rs 5 crore in the first phase to fuel expansion
plans in Goa. The money will be utilised for several new initiatives to promote
tourism in Goa. The company also plans to underwrite 2-3 strategic hotel properties
in Goa, which will be managed by TravelPort,” said Akhtar. While the company
has been witnessing considerable growth horizontally, it is also open to vertical
expansion through the inorganic route. Going forward, it would be looking aggressively
at more domestic acquisitions, said Akhtar.
“Kerala is another
destination we are seriously eyeing,” he added. A leading domestic travel
player in Goa, Balaji has a network of 400 agents and offices in five cities and
close to 90% of its Rs 20 crore turnover last fiscal came from hotel sales for
Goa.
The company also plans to undertake marketing activities to
boost inbound traffic to Goa from international locations including Central Europe
and would enter the online hotel and air booking space to Goa by the month-end
with www.gogoaonline.com.
Itinerary
TravelPort will
infuse a further Rs 5 crore to fund its Goa expansion plans
It is
entering the online hotel and air booking space with gogoaonline.com
Kerala is another destination it is eyeing "seriously" |
