Dertour Group on Wednesday (12 February) confirmed it had acquired Hotelplan Group, including its UK trade-facing brands Inghams, Explore Worldwide, Santa’s Lapland and Inntravel. These outfits will continue to operate as usual through their well-established trade channels, Dertour confirmed.

No further details of the acquisition have been disclosed, and the deal remains subject to regulatory approval. Dertour has, though, stressed it has no plans to shutter any of its newly acquired brands, and signalled there would be immediate "shared benefits" for its existing brands and the new additions.

News of the sale comes exactly a year to the week since Migros Group, Switzerland’s largest retail group, confirmed it had put Hotelplan Group, its brands and subsidiaries, up for sale, with a view to pulling out of the travel sector to focus on its core supermarket business.

Travel Trade Consultancy director Martin Alcock told TTG that in Dertour, and its parent Rewe Group, Hotelplan has found a "remarkably similar owner" to Migros. "Rewe Group are already custodians of a number of heritage brands, and they’re investors who take a very long-term view," said Alcock.

The deal will significantly expand Dertour’s portfolio of UK, trade-facing brands. These include Kuoni, along with its 30 retail outlets, as well as Carrier, CV Villas, Journey Latin America, Kirker Holidays, Jules Verne and recent acquisition Solmar Villas.

Summit Advisory director Deborah Potts said it would bring together "some great brands" under common ownership, albeit while adding: "I fully expect Dertour to allow each [brand] to continue to play to their own individual strengths and management expertise. They have already demonstrated this with the brands they own here in the UK.

"Of course, it means more financial muscle concentrated in the hands of one European trade player too."

Alcock, though, played down the extent of any consolidation. "It’s not so much a consolidation play in the UK market," he said. "There is remarkably little crossover between Dertour and Hotelplan’s existing UK offerings, so this deal gives Dertour a large footprint in a variety of new product areas.

‘Very good move’

Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, said he foresaw alignment between Dertour and Hotelplan’s flagship UK brands – Kuoni and Inghams – owing to efforts in recent years evolve their positions in the market.

Inghams shifted its summer focus onto walking holidays ahead of summer 2023, while Kuoni underwent a wholesale brand refresh late last year, one managing director Mark Duguid said he hoped would distinguish it from a "sea of sameness".

"Inghams itself had changed its marketing from lakes and mountains, a very competitive market, to Inghams Walking, which they hoped would move it into a more specialised and profitable position," said Bowen.

"At the same time, Kuoni has been attempting to position itself as slightly more family orientated and less luxury so for them, I think Hotelplan was moving towards the same market. It made sense to join and hopefully enjoy better economies of scale. It does seem like a very good move by Dertour."

Bowen added he anticipated there being efficiency savings further down the line. "Both parent companies are German speaking so I suspect the discussions were relatively easy to enable, but clearly the fact it has taken a year means there has been some tough talking on both sides.

"I suspect over time, and they are obviously denying this at the moment, some of the staff will be amalgamated and some will be lost as part of the takeover, thus reducing the costs of sale."

Dertour has said it would seek to leverage "shared benefits" from its acquisition of Hotelplan, including future "economies of scale in the tour operator business". This will include basing the group and its brands "on a joint technological platform".

Leif Vase Larsen, Dertour chief executive international, said Dertour would, in return, benefit from Hotelplan’s strategic investments in digital solutions. "In tourism today, IT systems for reservations, bookings, purchasing and production are key success factors," he said.