Altour acquires Walsh International Travel
ALTOUR, one of the world’s leading independent travel and services providers, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Walsh International Travel, effective 1st December 2011. Walsh International Travel (established in 1984) has built a strong customer base within the corporate and leisure sectors underpinned by experienced team members and a focus on hi-tech solutions. These same attributes make the acquisition by ALTOUR a natural fit and increases the brand’s UK turnover to more than £40Million.
Alexandre Chemla, the New York-based owner and President of ALTOUR, said, “We warmly welcome the Walsh team to the ALTOUR family and look forward to working closely with their clients.” Walsh International Travel will continue to operate as a separate business division within the ALTOUR Group.
Nigel Parkinson, ALTOUR’s General Manager, said he is “thrilled by the opportunity to further develop ALTOUR’s European profile and sees this acquisition as enhancing the overall value proposition.”
Current Walsh owners John Walsh and Chris Watson commented, “We firmly believe that ALTOUR provides a great fit for the Walsh staff and customers and allows us to further enhance our service and technology led approach.”
Nigel Parkinson added, “It has long been ALTOUR’s objective to grow our European footprint to complement the US business. We see this as part of a continuing development program and would welcome the opportunity to engage in dialogue with interested trade parties.”
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ALTOUR is one of the world’s leading independent travel and services organizations with a workforce of over 1,000 professionals in sixty-eight offices on three continents. With a $1.2 billion turnover in 2010, ALTOUR is recognized as an international industry leader providing essential travel and service solutions the world over. The company’s core remains its renowned business travel management capabilities, though ALTOUR has divisions dedicated to such diverse fields as leisure travel, performance improvement, sports travel, entertainment travel, as well as meetings and events services.
ALTOUR’s principal divisions are complemented by flexible sister companies providing private air charter services and limousine services. ALTOUR is ranked 12th on Travel Weekly’s 2010 “Power List” of the best travel agencies in the United States, and is ranked as the 33rd best agency in the UK by Buying Business Travel. The Los Angeles Business Journal ranks ALTOUR as one of the top two travel agencies in Los Angeles County, and also recognizes the company as one of the “Best Places to Work in Los Angeles” for 2010. ALTOUR has also been named to the “CMI 25” as one of Corporate Meetings & Incentives’ best in the industry.