Knoxville, Tenn.-based travel management company World Travel Service Inc. today said it purchased Raleigh, N.C.-based Trip Logics. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal.
World Travel Service in a statement said the combined company has nearly 150 employees and annual sales of more than $120 million last year. The firm said it has a roster of nationwide clients, but its strongest presence is in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
World Travel president Lamar Shuler in a statement noted that the ongoing trend of consolidation in the industry allows travel management companies to lower costs. "In our industry, we have to continually grow to be successful," Shuler said in a statement, adding that the company in recent years has acquired several small agencies, but the Trip Logics deal is the largest to date.
According to figures provided by ARC to
Business Travel News last year, World Travel Service was among the top 25 agencies in sales in 2005—however, those rankings only include agencies that released ARC data
(BTN, May 29, 2006).
World Travel Service said Trip Logics owner Kit McConnell will leave the company, but the rest of Trip Logics' senior staff would remain intact.