Titan Travel will continue to operate as a standalone brand despite being merged with Saga Holidays, the operator has insisted.
The over-50s specialist announced this morning that its tour operating businesses will be ‘combined to maximise efficiency in touring’.
But the company told Travel Gossip that both brands will continue to exist, with Titan set to lead the ‘touring vertical’, its MD Andy Squirrell said.
It is unclear if there will separate reservation teams, with detail of the merger still being worked through.
Job losses are likely to be ‘minimal’.
“Saga is combining the operations of Saga Holidays and Titan Travel, however the Titan brand will remain. Branded Saga holidays will also be sold by Titan,” a company spokesperson said.
“Titan continues to be a core part of the Saga travel business and strategy going forward.”
Squirrell later said Titan will ‘lead the touring vertical of the new Saga Travel Group’.
It is also understood the merger will have no impact on the move by Saga Holidays to cut ties with some agents or on Titan’s stated ‘commitment’ to the trade, which was again stressed by Squirrell.
“Our tour operations business, like the rest of the market, has been significantly impacted by COVID-19,” Saga said in an update this morning. “We are completing the restructuring of our Tour Operations business to position ourselves for growth and create a lower-cost, more agile and dynamic operation which is focused on the changing needs of our customers.”
The decision to combine Saga Holidays with Titan Travel ‘will maximise efficiency in touring, where the product offerings are highly complementary’, it added.
The business also said it will launch a hotel stay operation later in 2022, while management of its river cruise operation is being moved to Ocean Cruise.
“These actions place us in a strong position as travel restrictions ease and pent-up customer demand builds,” it said.
Saga estimated restructuring costs of £10-15m in the year ended 31 January 2022.
Meanwhile, the cruise division reported a positive earnings in the second half of 2021 with a load factor of 68%.
