Buyout in tour
packaging industry

Global Vacations Group
has acquired its third wholesaler
of Hawaii tour packages

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

A new travel industry conglomerate that recently bought two major mainland wholesalers of Hawaii tour packages has acquired another, MTI Vacations Inc. in Chicago.

The buyer is Global Vacation Group Inc., based in Washington, D.C., which last month acquired San Jose, Calif.-based Classic Custom Vacations and Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based Haddon Holidays.

The terms of the latest acquisition were not disclosed.

MTI officials on the mainland and in Hawaii were not available for comment.

MTI, Classic and Haddon all sell mid- to upper-range Hawaii tours.

MTI markets tours under its own name and is also what the industry calls a "private label" vacation provider, putting tour packages together under a variety of brand names for various travel retailers.

The buyer, Global Vacation Group, was put together by Thayer Equity Investors III L.P., a private equity investment firm. Thayer Equity is a $364 million investment fund formed in 1996.

Global also announced today that it has acquired Boston-headquartered Globetrotters Inc., which packages vacations to Florida, the Caribbean and Mexico.

Global also owns New York-based Allied Tours, an international tour operator.

So far, Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, based in Westlake Village, Calif., and a big player in the West Coast-Hawaii business, has been recognized as the biggest Hawaii wholesaler.

MTI, Classic and Haddon as a group may come close to Pleasant's size in the number of tourists they bring to the islands, but the numbers were not immediately available.