Prestige Holidays has been acquired by Embrace Travel Group for an undisclosed sum.
As a result of the deal, chairman and managing director John Dixon (pictured) is to retire after more than 50 years in the travel industry. Commercial director David Skillicorn will continue to work at Prestige under the new owners.
Dixon, who founded Prestige more than 30 years ago, said: “I am delighted to have secured new ownership for the company after what has been a particularly challenging 18 months.
“This deal recognises the hard work of the Prestige team and will enable the business to move forward and adapt as international travel starts to pick up post pandemic.”
In a statement, Prestige said Embrace had been attracted to the tour operator because of its strong, established relationships with the travel trade, its personal service levels and team of destination experts.
Prestige was founded in 1989 and offers holidays to more than 20 destinations, including the Canaries, Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Canada as well as Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isles of Scilly.
Embrace Travel Group was incorporated as a company in May and its directors are listed on Companies House as Charles Bartholomew and Joseph Sapak. Its website says it has “a strong background in the travel and tourism industry” and is “actively seeking acquisitions bringing together a group of carefully selected travel companies from appropriate geographical areas around the United Kingdom”.
It adds: “Our mission at Embrace Travel Group is to develop industry-leading businesses able to grasp opportunities, maximise returns from operations and fully enhance shareholder value in (the) travel & tourism industry. We specialise in merger & acquisitions (M&A) alongside company turnarounds utilising our expertise in sales, operations and finance.”
The company confirmed it would continue to work with travel agents.