Malta Specialist trade brand “Belleair Holidays” has been acquired by Alfendo Limited the parent company of JTA Travel Group. Part of the JTA family, the business will be headed up by senior JTA Travel Group Executive Dave Green, who will also take up the position of Managing Director for the reformed specialist operator. Dave previously held the role of joint Managing Director for the Malta Specialist from 2014-2017, under the previous Holiday Malta Co. Ltd. ownership.
Green commented: “When we heard that Nigel and Steve (Crownshield) had decided to close the business, we were determined that this historic travel brand wouldn’t be allowed to bite the dust. Belleair is a brand that agents have loved for over 40 years as the ‘go to’ operator for the Maltese Islands and beyond, we aim to bring that back, stronger than ever before.
The brand acquisition is complete and will have a brand new, agent only – user friendly Belleair trade site up and running and ready to take bookings from mid-May. We absolutely know that UK consumers love the Maltese Islands, the diversity of the product and the inclusivity of the warm friendly people. The Islands have a year-round appeal and are located close enough to the UK to go for an action-packed weekend break, a mid-week culture fest, a two-week chill in the sun or even a long stay during the cold UK winter months – which we believe will be very popular next winter, especially against the backdrop of rising costs in the UK.
We aim to make it easy for agents to promote what the Maltese Islands have to offer and will provide a brand-new booking engine that agents can use to make the online booking experience effortless”. To complement the Malta offering, other launch destinations will include Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Qatar, Tunisia, Turkey.
Agents will be rewarded with highly competitive prices to win customers and will also be able to claim great incentives through the Belleair / JTA Rewards programme. Green continued: “We have recruited ex-colleagues from the previous Belleair team including Fiona Morgan who joins as Specialist Product Manager and who holds over 20 years’ experience with the operator. Our aim is to recruit and retain experience and specialist knowledge and plan to get Belleair Holidays firing on all cylinders very soon, so we can support our wonderful trade colleagues and partners once again”.
JTA Group CEO Wayne Darrock added: “ We are delighted to have added such an iconic brand as Belleair to our business. Belleair will operate as a separate entity to our other brands due to its specialist nature, we will still add the JTA dynamic culture to modernise and increase its product offering to all UK trade partners.”
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