Hays Travel chair Dame Irene Hays says the agency is “not as big as people think we are” following its acquisition of miniples Millington Travel and Polka Dot Travel within a week.
The business’s acquisition of 14-branch Millington Travel for an undisclosed sum on Wednesday was its fourth deal of the year and came after the acquisition of Polka Dot Travel’s 15 branches last week.
It also added single-branch Scottish agency The Holiday and Flight Centre to its portfolio on Thursday.
During a webcast interview with Travel Weekly, Hays said it would be wrong for anyone to suggest Hays Travel was “taking over the world”.
“We’re absolutely not,” she said, adding: “You’ve just got to look at the Atol figures to see the people who are taking over the world, and it certainly isn’t Hays Travel.”
September’s Atol renewals left the top three in the rankings unchanged, with Jet2holidays in first place with a licence to carry just over seven million passengers (7,043,718), Tui second with a licence for just under six million (5,942,801) and online travel agent Loveholidays in third on just over five million (5,011,286).
Vista, Hays Travel’s in-house tour operator, holds an Atol enabling it to carry 203,986 passengers.
Hays said Hays Travel had been growing by 10% each year, which she described as “good” for a company of its size.
However, she added that some stores “go backwards” and need to be closed or relocated.
“I think because the big news story is always the acquisitions, sometimes that’s forgotten,” she said. “So we’re not as big as people think we are.”
All stores and employees are set to be retained under the three acquisitions, with the owners of each business exiting.
Earlier this year, the Sunderland-headquartered business bought Cruise.co.uk parent Victoria Travel Group and Spear Travels Group.
Hays Travel has about 500 stores.
