Our Travel Weekly Business Breakfast focusing on mergers and acquisitions in the travel sector attracted another record audience.
This topic has become so popular that it’s the only one that’s become an annual fixture – and last week’s event didn’t disappoint.
In the week that DER Touristik’s acquisition of Kuoni was completed, guests were told there was “a huge amount of capital out there looking for a home”, and that travel is currently seen as a very good investment.
That hasn’t always been the case, of course. But we heard how the level of private equity interest in particular in our sector had never been higher, and there is huge competition for deals.
To give a concrete example, one delegate told me he receives at least two emails a week from private equity companies asking him to meet.
So it’s a seller’s market – and providing your company offers something unique and reacts well to digital and demographic trends, it could well be a prime target for financial backing and accelerated growth.
On your marks for the Northern Ball Turning from one positive and upbeat fixture to another very different one, tonight, agents, and suppliers keen to thank them for their business, will be donning football kits, golf slacks, tennis dresses and maybe even Speedos (God forbid!) to run out at our sporting themed Northern Ball in Manchester.
On the eve of the Rugby World Cup – the biggest sporting event in this country since the 2012 Olympics – it seems fitting that we’ll be enjoying our own sporting celebration of hardworking agents in the north.