Hotels & More merges with Irish Welcome Tours

Tour operator for the UK and Ireland Hotels & More has announced a merger with fellow tourism agency Irish Welcome Tours.

Hotels and More said the deal would build on the growth it had achieved since it was backed by Mayfair Equity Partners in a buyout in October 2015.

Irish Welcome Tours, based in Sandyford, Co Dublin, is an inbound tour operator for groups, individual travellers and events. The business has direct relationships with more than 600 hotels and visitor attractions throughout Ireland.

Operating since 1989, it now has 65 dedicated multilingual staff and arranges holidays for more than 70,000 consumers each year through its brands, which include Authentic Vacations, Hotels Ireland and Irish Horizons.

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Irish Welcome Tours will continue to be managed independently by managing director John Waldron, who will work closely with Karin Urban, Hotels & More managing director.

Ms Urban said the two brands would “continue to grow market position”.

Mr Waldron said the partnership would “allow us much broader access to the UK market, which we can offer to our clients in Europe and America”.

“Having boots on the ground in both Ireland and the UK will allow our clients to be the first to hear about new products, more favourable allocations, preferential prices, and of course a team of local experts based on site,” he said.

“This is a hand in glove marriage, an exciting step in the evolution of our business and we are enthusiastic about the future opportunities available to both parties resulting from the partnership.”