Cruise118 takes investment from US group
LANCASHIRE holiday business Cruise118 has sold a stake to an Amercian travel giant.
The Chorley-based venture has taken the investment from World Travel Holdings which is one of the world’s largest distributors of cruise holidays.
Cruise118 said the deal, for an undisclosed sum, would enable it to push ahead with its growth strategy.
The business was established in June 2008 by former My Travel directors Mal Barritt and James Cole.
Mr Barritt said: “This is an extremely important deal, both for Cruise118 and the UK’s cruise industry. Under the deal we are announcing today, World Travel Holdings will acquire a stake in Cruise118 so that together we can grow the business to become the largest independent cruise retail company in the UK.
“We have developed a strong relationship with Brad and Jeff Tolkin, Co-CEOs and majority owners of World Travel Holdings, and our business model sits very well alongside theirs. We both have organisations dedicated to providing exceptional service as standard and have outstanding teams ready to take on this new and exciting challenge.”
Mr Cole said: “This is a really great opportunity for Lancashire too. We set up Cruise118 in Chorley because we wanted to invest in the region and we’re keen to recruit people from the area as our business grows as a result of this latest deal.”
Last year Cruise118 signed a multi-million pound deal with travelsupermarket.com to power the price comparison website’s cruise pages.
