It’s been a year of acquisitions in the global B2B bedbanks space. Following Hotelbeds’ purchase of GTA and Tourico Holidays earlier this year, Webjet has just announced its acquisition for an undisclosed portion of London-based B2B hotel supplier JacTravel from private equity firm Vitruvian Partners.

The acquisition will see JacTravel – including its namesake brand and totalstay.com – join Sunhotels, Lots of Hotels and FIT Ruum’s in Webjet’s B2B division, WebBeds, a move which could give rise to a new B2B travel giant boasting an annual transacted volume of over A$1 billion (US$800 million).

JacTravel, with its particular strength in Europe, currently has a portfolio of 10,000 directly contracted hotels, 7,000 of which are unique to WebBeds. Additionally, the 3,000 overlapping hotel contracts will further deepen the company’s allocation and availability.

WebBeds’ global footprint is expected to get a boost with offices in 19 countries and a headcount of over 900 employees, allowing it to support its worldwide network of partners. It will also feature a global portfolio of more than 225,000 hotels, of which 17,000 are directly contracted, in all regions of the globe.

John Guscic, managing director of Webjet, said: “This acquisition is transformational to WebBeds, creating the (second top) B2B player globally and in the all-important European market.

“By consolidating with like-minded partners like JacTravel, we believe we will drive even greater synergies that will benefit the wider travel industry,” he added.

Terry Williamson, CEO of JacTravel, commented: “The combination with Webjet is the next logical step in our global expansion vision which will enable us to offer even greater wider reach to our hotel partners and greater choice and value to our customers.”

The transaction is expected to close at the end of August 2017. In the weeks and months ahead, Webjet will be working with the JacTravel team to integrate the businesses.

Visitors from Singapore and Hong Kong can soon enjoy speedier immigration clearance at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang international airports as authorities roll out a new scheme to allow them to use automatic passport scanners currently reserved for Thai nationals, The Nation reported.

Set to be implemented within the next two months, this move would reduce the immigration processing time per person from about one minute to 20-30 seconds, according to Thai immigration bureau commissioner Nathathorn Prousoontorn.

Hong Kong and Singapore travellers were selected as the first countries for which this facility is available to due to their frequent visits to Thailand compared with other markets.

Foreign visitors seeking to avail the automatic facility are first required to register with the Thai immigration office prior to their arrival in Thailand.

The bureau also plans to expand the privilege to countries with visa-free entry into Thailand such as Australia and parts of Europe.

The Flight Centre Travel Group (FLT) has fully acquired two travel businesses in New Zealand – the leisure-focused Travel Managers Group (TMG) and corporate travel management company Executive Travel Group (ETG) – for an undisclosed sum. The deals are expected to formally settle during 1Q2018.

FLT managing director Graham Turner said the acquisitions would strengthen the company’s New Zealand operations, which is now the company’s fifth largest business globally by sales behind Australia, the US, UK and Canada.

“Executive travel and travel managers are profitable businesses, generating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in excess of NZ$3 million (US$2.2 million) annually, with solid growth trajectories and good track records of success,” Turner said in a press statement.

This latest announcement comes back off the company’s recent acquisition of BHMAsia in Asia and Olympus Tours in Mexico.

Representing FLT’s first acquisition in the home-based sector, TMG provides systems and support services to a network of more than 180 individual brokers, as well as a 22-shop franchise network, which includes 12 TravelSmart shops and 10 non-branded stores. It was established in 2002 and generated about NZ$120 million in total transaction value (TTV) during its 2017 year.

EMG, established in 1978, is the largest independent corporate travel management firm in New Zealand and generated about NZ$60 million in TTV during the 2016 calendar year.

Both businesses were privately owned, with former FLT New Zealand employee Kevin Weston co-owning ETG and being a major shareholder in TMG.

Weston and his business partners, Nicola Jamieson and Dave Wallace, will continue to oversee both businesses’ day-to-day operations and will report to FLT New Zealand managing director David Coombes.

After news broke of Australian authorities thwarting an alleged “Islamic-inspired” plot to bring down an airplane, passengers are now advised to arrive at airports hours earlier to undergo additional screening as part of enhanced safety measures.

Airlines such as Tigerair Australia and Qantas are requesting that passengers arrive at the terminal at least two hours before domestic flights and three hours before international flights, according to travel alerts on their websites.

Passengers are also asked to limit the amount of carry-on and checked baggage where possible to help ensure efficient screening.

A Tigerair alert published on July 29 read: “The travelling public can expect to experience an increased level of security scrutiny at the airport but they should not be concerned about these precautionary measures. As the measures place an additional burden on the screening system, it may take a little longer than usual to get through the process.”

Since then, many accounts of delays and long lines at Australian airports have hit social media and news outlets.

The terror plot was brought to light after a counterterrorism raid across Sydney, which led to the arrest of four men.

At press time, little information on the suspects or the terror plot has been made public.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has appointed Gloria Guevara Manzo as its new president & CEO, replacing David Scowsill who left the London-based organisation after six years at the helm.

Guevara served as secretary of tourism for Mexico and CEO of the Mexican Tourism Board from 2010 to 2012, minister in the cabinet of President Calderón.

Prior to that she worked for global distribution system Sabre where she was most recently CEO of Sabre Mexico, reporting to the board of directors of a joint venture between Aeroméxico, Mexicana and Sabre Holdings.

She is currently special advisor on government affairs for the Centre on Health and the Global Environment at the School of Public Health, Harvard.

Guevara, a Mexican national, is married with a son and a daughter.

Pan Pacific Hotels Group (PPHG) has announced its first serviced suites property in Indonesia, slated to open in the capital city by 2020.

Located along Jalan Thamrin in the CBD, Pan Pacific Serviced Suites Jakarta will offer 161 units across levels 47 to 58 in the North Tower of Indonesia 1. The tower is part of a 19,000m² mixed-development, which comprises offices, commercial spaces, and entertainment and retail offerings.

PPHG’s openings this year include Pan Pacific Melbourne, which just opened last week, while Pan Pacific Beijing and Pan Pacific Yangon will debut in their respective cities in September.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and AirAsia will jointly promote Indonesian destinations in Malaysia in a newly launched collaboration.

The collaboration will see both parties focusing on marketing efforts in terms of brand advertising, promotional activities and activations across various areas including digital, print, radio, in-flight branding and consumer travel fairs.

Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia, said: “This partnership could not be more timely as we have been seeing robust demand for Malaysia and Indonesia. In 2016, we (flew) over four million guests between both countries to contribute significantly to the tourist arrivals last year and this is only a fraction of the potential we can achieve.”

AirAsia connects Malaysia with Indonesia through more than 350 weekly flights to 15 different cities such as Banda Aceh, Bandung, Bali, Jakarta, Lombok, Medan, Pekanbaru, Palembang, Padang, Pontianak, Semarang, Solo, Surabaya, Makassar and Yogyakarta.

The airline also recently upped frequencies on several Indonesia routes and launched Kuching-Pontianak flights to meet the growing travel demand.

RCI, a division of Wyndham Worldwide, has acquired London-based Love Home Swap to broaden its appeal to a new base of holidaymakers and strengthen its position in the global alternative holiday accommodation sector.

Gordon Gurnik, president of RCI, said: “Through this acquisition we expand the exchange options we offer travellers and strengthen our footprint in key growth markets across the globe.”

Building on a previous investment in the company in 2015, the acquisition will see Love Home Swap come under the RCI family of brands and benefit from the core competencies RCI has developed over the past four decades, including inventory management, member marketing and analytics.

The company is also expected to enjoy additional resources that come with being part of an established hospitality player, along with potential access to Wyndham’s global portfolio.

While Love Home Swap will continue to run as an independent brand marketed separately from RCI, their similarities allow for greater collaboration to foster growth and provide future travel benefits to their respective members.

Love Home Swap founder, Debbie Wosskow, will stay on as an advisor to ensure a smooth transition into the RCI family, while former chief commercial officer Ben Wosskow will oversee the daily operations of the business in his new role as managing director.