Altour Acquires The Travel Authority

Travel management company Altour International yesterday announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy super regional agency The Travel Authority for an undisclosed amount.

Combined, the two travel management companies processed 548,804 ARC transactions in 2008 worth $429.8 million, according to BTN's 2009 Business Travel Survey. Altour and Jeffersonville, Ind.-based The Travel Authority rank 12 and 8, respectively, in terms of ARC transaction in this year's survey. Corporate travel comprises about 80 percent of both companies' business.

The agencies will continue operating under their separate names. Altour president Alexandre Chemla becomes chairman of The Travel Authority, where current president and CEO Tom Lumley will remain on the board of directors and "continue in an advisory capacity" while TTA's current executive vice president Lee Thomas transitions to president.

New York-based Altour has 23 offices with more than 700 employees in the United States and Europe. The Travel Authority has more than 300 employees in more than 40 offices in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. Both agencies are part of the American Express Travel Representative agency network. Altour joined the network in May.

Altour has been on the agency buying path for the last several years, with the TTA buy by far being its largest. In 2008, the company bought regional agencies Denver-based Cherry Creek Travel and Las Vegas-based Dazey Travel. In 2007, it acquired three regional agencies in Las Vegas, London and Washington, D.C., each with about $4 million in annual ARC volume.