Travel tech holding company Travelsoft Group recently made the surprising move to acquire Eventiz Media Group, the publisher of French travel trade magazine L’Echo Touristique along with other media outlets and event organizing services. Eventiz was struggling financially, leading to the acquisition by Travelsoft. The acquisition is part of Travelsoft’s long-term strategy, with plans to use Eventiz’s data service to provide booking data to governmental tourism offices in order to better inform marketing strategy for the agencies.
Travelsoft CEO Christian Sabbagh believes there is high value in providing booking data to clients, especially tourism boards, months in advance rather than relying on analysis of tourism numbers after each season. With Eventiz’s strong relationships with tourism boards, they are in a good position to provide this data. The acquisition also allows Eventiz’s media companies to continue publishing with the same standards and for their events to carry on, potentially with more in the future. The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed and while Eventiz is not currently profitable, Sabbagh hopes to change that in the future by leveraging its assets for planned projects.
Travelsoft has been on an acquisition spree, previously acquiring Germany-based Traffics and Spain-based Travel Compositor. Sabbagh plans for more acquisitions in the future, focusing on similar travel tech companies in different geographies or companies specializing in areas not covered by existing Travelsoft companies. Each acquisition is meant to strengthen the data for the planned market analysis service using booking data from Travelsoft’s tech companies. Sabbagh believes that the more they acquire and consolidate the tech market, the more relevant data they will have for their service.
The acquisition of Eventiz by Travelsoft comes as a strategic move for the travel tech holding company. While Travelsoft’s tech companies have been financially strong, Eventiz was struggling and looking for a buyer or a way to restructure to continue operations. The acquisition will provide support for Eventiz to continue operations, allowing Travelsoft to leverage its assets for new projects. Sabbagh’s focus is on increasing the profitability of Eventiz by using its data service to provide valuable booking data to clients, primarily governmental tourism offices, to inform marketing strategies in advance of the travel season.
The plan for Eventiz within Travelsoft is to house a data service focused on using booking data from Travelsoft’s tech companies to provide valuable data to clients. This strategic move aims to change the way tourism boards measure performance by providing booking data months in advance. Sabbagh believes that the service will add high value to the market analysis strategy and can potentially increase the profitability of Eventiz in the future. Despite the acquisition, Eventiz’s media companies will continue to operate with the same standards and their events will carry on, potentially leading to more events in the future as well.
