by Robin Amster
Last updated: 2:05 PM ET, Wed December 7, 2016
Travel Leaders Group and CruCon Cruise Outlet have signed an agreement for Travel Leaders Group to make a significant investment in CruCon, a New Hampshire-based company with more than $125 million in annual cruise volume.
CruCon CEO Sandy Cleary will oversee an investment strategy aimed at dramatically increasing Travel Leaders Group's wholly-owned cruise volume. Travel Leaders Group will seek to consolidate up to $1 billion in annual cruise sales volume over the next several years.
The CruCon investment will be made in early 2017. No additional details on the investment were released.
Founded in 1997 by Cleary, CruCon is one of the largest members of Travel Leaders Network - a division of Travel Leaders Group - having first joined in 1999.
Travel Leaders Group's wholly-owned cruise-focused businesses - All Aboard Travel, CruiseDeals.com, Cruise Specialists and SinglesCruise.com - currently comprise the company's Travel Leaders Leisure Group division.
Travel Leaders Group is North America's largest traditional travel agency company, representing nearly one-third of all travel agents. It generated about $21 billion in sales in 2015 through its Travel Leaders Leisure Group, Travel Leaders Corporate, Travel Leaders Network, Travel Leaders Elite (Protravel International and Tzell Travel Group), and Nexion divisions.
"Since our inception in 2008, Travel Leaders Group has sought to make investments in travel businesses that strategically align with ours," explained Ninan Chacko, Travel Leaders Group CEO.
"By investing significantly in CruCon Cruise Outlet - one of the industry's foremost cruise leaders - we see an opportunity to rapidly increase Travel Leaders Group's cruise volume, thus further strengthening the already substantial, high-quality demand we deliver to cruise lines."
Cleary said, "We are very excited to be part of the Travel Leaders Group family particularly because of what this will mean to the overall future of the cruise industry and the agent distribution channel.
"While CruCon's growth over the last 19 years has been enviable, Travel Leaders Group has resources that will allow us to grow enormously, along with the potential to add their industry-leading air, hotel and land products to our portfolio. That will enable our clients to enjoy more fulfilling - and cost effective - cruise experiences."
John Lovell, president of Travel Leaders Network & Leisure Group, said the investment strategy managed by Cleary, also will be aimed at integrating additional cruise agencies into Travel Leaders Leisure Group.
"This will significantly increase our sphere of influence with our supplier partners and allow us to capture additional economies of scale," Lovell said.
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