Caribtours owner and chief executive Paul Cleary has revealed the luxury operator plans to merge with the US company that bought a stake in it last year.
Cleary told a Travel Weekly webcast the ultimate aim is for his business and fellow luxury operator ID Travel Group to be brought together more closely.
He said: “The grand plan will be to bring our two companies entirely into a merger when the time is right but not change anything whatsoever operationally.”
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During an interview with Travel Weekly editor-in-chief Lucy Huxley, Cleary said last year’s deal with ID Travel Group came about through a 30-year friendship and the US operator had “remarkably similar values” to Caribtours.
“What we’re building is a strong, service-led sustainable luxury travel brand,” Cleary said.
He added: “For people who book holidays with us, it’s business as usual. Behind the scenes, our teams are working much more closely together and there are huge opportunities to bring out the best in each other and learn from each other.”
Cleary said he led the management buy-out alongside ID because he wanted to “do things differently”.
On the potential for future deals and acquisitions, Cleary referenced last year’s purchase of Just Grenada as evidence of what can work.
“We know we can do this, so as opportunities come up it’s interesting,” he said. “But, equally, we’re in the business of selling holidays and we don’t want to become distracted too much as all of this takes time and what we like doing is working with travel agents.”
Cleary said 2024 is looking “incredibly strong” for Caribtours, but added there is still availability for this October and Christmas.
The trade accounts for around 85% of the operator’s business, Cleary said, with agents described as “integral” to the operator’s success.
“Agents are part of our DNA,” he said, adding: “We speak to our agents every single day, all of us.”
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