Agents to benefit from imminent acquisition, says InteleTravel chief

InteleTravel is hoping to capitalise on the growing trend for ‘live event travel’ with the imminent acquisition of a specialist event ticketing company.

The US homeworking agency will acquire 100% of the ticketing platform, which it is declining to name until the deal completes, claiming the purchase will give advisors in all markets advance access to tickets for sporting and music events.

InteleTravel group chief executive James Ferrara (pictured) said: “Travel in 2025 will be less about where, as in the destination, and more about the moments that people want to then build trips around.

“Ten per cent of all retail sales are in this vertical currently and we see this growing significantly.”

More: InteleTravel increases year-on-year revenue by 88% in UK and Ireland

Ferrara cited the huge spike in travel to Berlin last year for people attending Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and then building holidays in the German capital around the concert.

“InteleTravel wants a piece of this market, and we want to give our advisors more sell,” he said.

He explained agents could sell ticket-only, dynamically package the tickets with flights and accommodation themselves under InteleTravel’s Atol, or book luxury packages created by Major Travel, the long-haul operator that InteleTravel bought eight months ago.

Ferrara said the timing was perfect with artists such as Beyonce, K-Pop stars BTS and Harry Styles all set to tour this year and added the ticketing company was also a “top level distributor” for the NFL and football leagues. He added that the Fifa World Cup in 2026 and the F1 would also be huge draws.

“This is a very similar strategy to our Major Travel acquisition,” he explained. “We want to own the product as it gives us the opportunity to have more of the margin, so we earn both as the manufacturer and the seller.

“If our advisors really get behind this trend, then they are going to make a lot of money – and we will be the only retailer that has an in-house source for this tickets, available before they go on sale anywhere else.”

Ferarra expects the founder of the company, who built the platform while at the University of Bath, to join InteleTravel as part of the transaction.

He added: “Our overall strategy at InteleTravel is simple. It’s to offer our advisors more types of travel to sell to appeal to their customer bases; and therefore more ways to earn, and more advantage in the market.”

He said the company would offer training in the new product range to support the acquisition.

UK & Ireland managing director Tricia Handley-Hughes added that training with Clia and Atas was about to go live for advisors in her market.

She also revealed she had taken a full ship charter of a Riviera river cruise ship on the Rhine to take 164 advisors on InteleTravel’s first river cruise educational and training workshop, taking place between March 23-25.

InteleTravel UK & Ireland’s annual conference, InteleTravel Quest, will take place in Porto on September 26-28.