A UK company acquires Miami’s largest travel agency in a bid to expand
By J.P. FABER
Few industry sectors were as hard hit by the pandemic as global tourism, taking a deep dive in 2020. According to market research firm Statista, 2019’s record $2.201 trillion in tourist spending fell to $1.3 billion in 2020.
The good news is that this year, global tourism is predicted to exceed pre-pandemic levels and reach $2.285 trillion. Leading that recovery are international travelers to and from North America. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which tracks airline passenger loads, North American carriers have already recovered their international passenger traffic; as of May, revenue from international travelers to and from North America was 17 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
This rise was not lost on the UK-based Gray Dawes Group, which, in April, acquired Miami’s largest travel agency in a bid to expand its North American footprint. Following a Gray Dawes acquisition of an Australian travel company in January, the latest buy completes the firm’s “Always On” strategy, wherein a travel firm staffer is available 24 hours a day.
The firm acquired – Express Travel – is not only Florida’s largest travel agency, but also one of the largest Hispanic-owned companies in the U.S. and among the biggest women-owned businesses in the state. With 30 employees, last year Express Travel billed $33 million.
“They want to enter the U.S. market, so they are doing it through us,” says Express Travel CEO Olga Ramudo. “We will be their U.S. headquarters” – as well as a gateway to the Latin American market.
“Our focus is on driving our global operations and implementing our ‘Always On’ service delivery,” says Suzanne Horner, Gray Dawes Group’s chief executive. “That means aligning our UK, USA and Australia bases and implementing a shared technology platform across the entire operation. We want to be there for our clients, when and where they need us.”
Last year, the travel division of Gray Dawes billed $327 million, a figure that is expected to reach more than $450 million this year with its new acquisitions and the explosion in post-pandemic travel demand.
Horner says that their choice of Express Travel for expansion to the U.S. was based as much on shared corporate values as it was on location and numbers. “Primarily it’s about the company, not the location – though Miami does afford us some fantastic opportunities to develop the Latin American market,” says Horner. “I have long admired the business that Olga Ramudo, Cristina Jacomino [Ramudo’s sister and partner] and their team have built.”
That sentiment was equally important for Express Travel. “What’s great about [Gray Dawes] and why we are so happy about this company is that they are family-owned, the same family for 100 years,” says Ramudo. “They are also women-led, something close and dear to my heart, and they are based on relationships and service. So, they are basically what we are all about.”
While the advent of the internet has obviated many of the services provided by traditional travel agencies, companies such as Travel Express have still performed well by serving the corporate market (more than 70 percent of their business), providing corporate compliance, contracting, and negotiations with airlines, hotels, and car companies, etc. “We can get better deals according to the volume we do,” notes Ramudo. For Express and Ramudo – now Gray Dawe’s senior VP for Florida and Latin America, with sister Jacomino taking on the role of luxury travel director – the difference is the new reach and additional resources that Gray Dawes brings. “This is exciting for us, because now we are a global company,” says Ramudo.
