Travel: Holiday operators packaged and ready to fly

We expect investment in the travel sector to ramp up in 2024. Consumers continue to prioritise spend on holidays and IATA forecasts air passenger volumes to return to pre-pandemic levels this year. Given the number of assets locked in because of Brexit and Covid, we anticipate a significant number of mid-market transactions in the next twelve months. 

Packaged holiday operators are attracting investor attention as they offer cautious holiday makers reassurance around costs and contingency plans in case of disruption. Assets coming to the market that specialise in increasingly attractive destinations (for example Italy, Japan, Thailand) are well positioned for growth (and many other destination markets are resilient). 

However, accelerating growth can be tricky, and investors will need to carefully quantify potential share gains from investing in digital marketing (enhanced SEO, targeted behavioural advertising, influencer marketing) and discounts / loyalty schemes to maximise new and repeat bookings.  

Close attention should also be paid to the traditional differentiators for these assets – customer service (friendly and knowledgeable staff, communication, organisation, pro-active etc.) and value for money (note not necessarily cheap). These can be overlooked as operators scale, and marketing them effectively is key to continued success. 

Tour operators deals we’ve supported

Speak to the team about opportunities in the travel sector.

Jack Hibbs

[email protected]
+44 7883 296 346