The Travel Industry has been in turmoil for some time and the constant changes due to factors both inside and outside of the industry have forced many in the industry to scramble for market share and positioning. You may remember Candi May’s carousel with Travel Professionals, Bye Bye Now, and Carlson Wagonlit before she finally found a home with YTB.

Just this week I found two articles of more musical chairs.

I’ve mentioned Liberty Travel a time or two before and do recall earlier in the year when an Australian company (Flight Center) had purchased the Agency. This week they announced that they will be closing 15% of their retail locations, or 30 of its 197 stores across the country. The closings will occur in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New England and Upstate New York. While an exact number of jobs lost in this move was not disclosed, since the Australian buyout by Flight Center there has already been a loss of some 180 jobs.

This move has been positioned as a “consolidation” of sorts and employees will be moved around to other stores. That is if they’re actually performing. Other “dead wood” will be let go entirely. Shannon O’Brien, the company’s acting CEO, said outlets in undesirable locations will be closed for “a stronger shop network as our platform for future growth.”

It also looks like this move is necessary since Liberty will be costing Flight Center some $10.2 Million just in the second half of 2008.

Liberty Travel is currently ranked #10 on the 2008 Power List.

In another move this week, Uniglobe Travel Center, the host agency division of Uniglobe Travel USA, has agreed to purchase Magellan360. The sale will bring annual sales to $85 million with some of 400 independent contractors and home-based agents. Sales of $100 million are required to make Travel Weekly’s Power List, thus Magellan360 was unranked in the Travel Weekly Power List.

Magellan 360 has already been thrown around a few time in years past as stated in the Travel Weekly article.

Scott Ahlsmith, the Travel Institute chairman and Virtuoso vice president of global technological solutions, previously owned the 21-year-old business but sold it in January 2007 to Red Branch Technologies, which in turn is selling to Uniglobe. The transaction is expected to close on Nov. 30.

Uniglobe Travel Partners may pick up the spots it lost in 2008, (currently ranked 43 after falling from 40 in the 2007 Power List) and move is certainly a plus for Magellan360 affiliates. They will gain access to Uniglobe programs, including assistance with business planning, marketing toolkits and the opportunity to network with more than 750 franchised Uniglobe agencies around the world.

It’s never ending when it comes to these types of closures, purchases, and takeovers. The flux of this industry, while not entirely isolated to this particular industry, it does appear to me at least to be far more than any industry I’ve ever been involved with in years past.

Change is never easy, especially when it comes to a work environment. Nor does it matter if the change is positive or negative; it upsets the status quo. We’ll have to wait and see how all this shakes out for the companies involved. It will also be interesting to see how long this move lasts. From what I’ve seen, there may be even more before it all shakes out and settles down.

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Doug & Ronda Bauknight AKA: TravelPro Travel Agent / Networker Phone: 678.458.5812

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