Thomas Cook India buys Lankan travel firm

3 August 2015 02:47 am

Thomas Cook (India) Ltd recently said it bought Luxe Asia, a Sri Lanka-based destination management company through its wholly owned subsidiary, Thomas Cook Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.

Luxe Asia was part of Galle Face Hotel Group, a leisure group that owns Colombo’s iconic Galle Face Hotel.

A statement issued by Thomas Cook (India) did not disclose the acquisition price, but said the company will operate as an independent entity.

“Thomas Cook India’s acquisition of Luxe Asia gives it significant presence in Sri Lanka with destination management capabilities in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean region; also synergies with its key business lines of outbound, inbound and corporate MICE,” the statement said.

Luxe Asia primarily focuses on inbound tourism from key global markets and services both tour operator and traveller segments across its ten destinations in the Indian Ocean Region and Asia. The two joint ventures of Luxe Asia include, Khiri Travels, a leader with over 20 years of operation in the South East Asian region; also a destination management company for the UAE market.

“Our acquisition of Luxe Asia reiterates delivery of our strategic intent of establishing a global destination management presence. Luxe Asia will continue to focus on its core domain of inbound tourism across key global source markets” Thomas Cook India Managing Director Madhavan Menon said.

India has been Sri Lanka’s largest tourist source market and relatively cheap air fares between the two countries have resulted more Indian tourists visiting Sri Lanka. 

Indian tourist arrivals rose 27.3 percent to 145, 453 in the first 6 months of 2015, compared to the same period of the previous year.