The World Travel purchase is the latest in a series of investments BCD Travel has made in recent years to grow business, extend its global network and help businesses leverage the latest innovations for their travel programs.
ATLANTA – BCD Travel announced it has acquired Knoxville, Tenn.,-based World Travel Service Inc., one of the largest corporate travel agencies in the U.S.
“As a respected travel management company with a strong focus on mid-market corporate customers, World Travel fits our culture and growth goals very well,” said Craig Bailey, BCD Travel’s president of North America. “This acquisition shows our clear intent to continue to aggressively pursue growth opportunities and acquisitions that benefit our clients by strengthening our position as a leader in corporate travel well into the future.”
Incorporated in 1946, the privately owned World Travel is the 13th largest corporate travel agency in the U.S. with more than 100 employees, a diverse portfolio of clients and annual sales of over $330 million. Focusing on corporate travel management as its core business, World Travel also operates a rapid-growing, award-winning meeting and incentive group called Liaisons Meetings & Incentives. The agency has operated as a BCD Affiliate since 2002.
“We’ve established close working relationships with BCD Travel leadership,” said Lamar Shuler, president of World Travel Service. “Together we will continue to thrive, producing value for our customers, shareholders and our staff-who will have greater exposure to how a global company operates and more paths for long-term career growth.”
The World Travel purchase is the latest in a series of investments BCD Travel has made in recent years to grow business, extend its global network and help businesses leverage the latest innovations for their travel programs.
Other significant BCD investments include the purchase of Tbiz from Travelocity, development of substantial proprietary platforms in business intelligence (DecisionSource) and mobile technology (TripSource), establishment of a new joint venture in Brazil and the acquisition by BCD M&I of Raleigh, N.C.-based Universal Meeting Management.
World Travel will continue operating under their brand as a business unit of BCD Travel.
Photo caption: Craig Bailey, BCD Travel’s president of North America.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
