Kuoni and Kuoni Specialists welcome Switzerland’s leading golf travel provider, Golf and Travel, to their ranks on 31 March 2023. For employees and clients of the successful golf travel brand, the move represents continuity as well as access to an expanded range of products; for Kuoni, it means the strengthening and expansion of the sports segment.
Thomas Bächler, owner and Managing Director of Golf and Travel, will hand over the leading Swiss golf travel specialist into the hands of DERTOUR Suisse tour operator Kuoni on 31 March 2023. With the acquisition of Golf and Travel, Kuoni is further expanding its market position in the sports travel segment. Thomas Bächler will continue to lead the fortunes of Golf and Travel as Managing Director. A change of location of the travel specialist based in Root, Lucerne, is not planned for the time being. Likewise, DERTOUR Suisse will retain the approximately twelve jobs of the tour operator. The parties to the contract have agreed not to disclose any further details of the agreement.
Golf and Travel was founded in 2013 by Thomas Bächler as the successor organisation to Take it Travel. The tour operator’s business areas include not only the organisation of golf holidays at home and abroad, but also inbound tour operating under the Golf in Switzerland brand. This gives Golf and Travel a unique selling point in the Swiss market, as does its bilingual product range in German- speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.
«Expanded range of offers with new tours»
Thomas Bächler explains: «In order to secure the future as well as the succession plan for Golf and Travel for the mid and long term, I am handing over my life’s work into the good hands of DERTOUR Suisse after the conclusion of trustful discussions. For our employees, this represents continuity, and for our clients it means access to an expanded range of offers with new, varied and attractive trips. As Managing Director of Golf and Travel, I will continue to shoulder responsibility for the fate of Golf and Travel with a great deal of commitment and pleasure.»
With the acquisition of Golf and Travel, DERTOUR Suisse is tapping into a business segment that offers considerable market potential with almost 100,000 licensed golfers in Switzerland. «We are very pleased to continue writing the history of Golf and Travel and to be able to add golf travel to our range of products. With the launch of Kuoni Sports in 2019, we have already opened up the sports travel segment, which we are now significantly strengthening and expanding once again,» explains Verda Birinci-Reed, COO of DERTOUR Suisse, adding: «We are very much looking forward to working with the Golf and Travel team and to developing our business together.»
Further information:
Markus Flick, Media Spokesperson Kuoni T +41 44 277 43 63 – markus.flick@dertouristik.ch