Press Release: Travello acquires Backpacker Deals
06/11/2020
MEDIA RELEASE 2 September
2020 TRAVELLO ACQUIRES EXPERIENCES OTA AS IT DOUBLES DOWN ON YOUTH MARKET
Travello, the social network for travellers used in 180 countries, today announced the acquisition of Australia and New Zealand's largest youth online travel agency (OTA) “Backpacker Dealsâ€. The deal will see Travello & Backpacker Deals become the largest experience-based OTA focussed on the Youth Market. Speaking about the acquisition, Travello CEO Ryan Hanly said, “Backpacker Deals is a market leader in the youth vertical and they’ve built some great technology we haven’t seen in other companies. We have an aligned vision and demographic focus, so this just made perfect sense.’
Travello, who’s community has grown through 2020 despite the pandemic, saw Backpacker Deals growth in normal times as a clear indicator of a fast rebound. “Their market share and revenues have been growing aggressively over the last few years and while they obviously suffered from the impacts of COVID, they are already seeing a strong recovery. We can’t see that stopping as people turn to online channels to book more and more of their travel journey.â€
Hanly believes the Covid pandemic has been the catalyst for the digitalisation of many industries, including the Tours and Activities vertical which has lagged other travel verticals in its adoption of digital. “The majority of experiences pre-covid were booked offline, at retail stores and hotel desks. This will change as the majority of those stores won’t re-open and travellers will be booking their experiences online for the first time.†Dinesh Kaku, the founder of Backpacker Deals, will join Travello as Head of Growth and is excited about the scale both companies can achieve. “The combination of Travello’s community and Backpacker Deals’ e-commerce focus is pretty irresistible. It will be exciting to scale this company and become the global leaders in youth travel.â€
And the youth market is not one to be underestimated with Millennials and Gen Zs accounting for 40% of the market pre-covid. It also presents a huge opportunity for destinations looking to rebound as they will likely be the first demographic to travel widely upon re-opening. “Youth travellers are generally more open to risk, so they will be the first demographic to travel widely as soon as they can. Gen X, older travellers and those with children won’t be willing to take those risks and we are seeing that in our bookings already†says Kaku.
A recent study conducted by Travello found that 83% of youth travellers (aged 18-35) would travel overseas in the next 3 months if they could. And the value of the Youth Market is also backed by Tourism Australia’s research showing Youth travellers stay longer and spend more, accounting for 25% of the inbound market, but over 40% of total spend. 2 And while the current climate for travel looks bleak, Hanly is excited about the future, “We’ve really spent this time looking at the future of travel, what it will look like and who it will be. How people discover and book travel is changing and our combination of social & commerce positions us perfectly to take advantage of this huge opportunity and the shift in consumer booking behaviours.†Hanly continues “Out of every global event like the GFC, innovative companies have emerged as huge winners. Our attitude has always been about being on the offense and that hasn’t changed. We’re looking forward with some serious optimism in regard to how we emerge from this pandemic. We want to be the winners.â€
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About Travello Travello www.travelloapp.com is a Brisbane based company, with over 1,000,000 users globally. Travello is focussed on building the world’s largest travel community and also creating industry leading travel technology. Travello’s Co-Founder and CEO can be contacted for further quotes on ryan@travelloapp.com and/or +61 0415 214 215.
About Backpacker Deals Backpacker Deals www.backpackerdeals.com is an Online Travel Agent (OTA) headquartered out of Melbourne, Australia. Backpacker Deals has a curated range of tours & experiences focussed on the youth market (18-35) spanning 24 countries. Backpacker Deals has been delivering amazing experiences to youth travellers around the world for the last 4 years.
