Question mark on Orizonia’s Asian outbound ops

SPANISH travel group Barceló Viajes may have acquired its rival, Orizonia, but the buyout will not include any of its former Asian outbound operations.

Speaking to TTG Asia, Barceló’s marketing director, Mar Fernández, said Orizonia’s Asian business had been carried out mainly under the Kirunna and Iberojet brands.

Barceló has its own longhaul brand, La Cuarta Isla, set up in January 2012 to handle Asian business.

While Barceló could not give figures on the extent of Orizonia’s business in Asia, a market analyst said it had “been fast disappearing with the rest of its business in the last few years”.

Queries to Orizonia have gone unanswered.

At the height of the Spanish outbound market in the early 2000s, Orizonia had been among the top four Spanish operators in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Japan.

Under the new agreement, Barceló will take over parts of Orizonia’s charter airline business, Orbest, and the Vibo travel agency chain, Last December, Orizonia sold its hotel chain Luabay to Globalia travel group, owner of Air Europia.

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