In an effort to become the number one travel service company in Asia by 2020, Tokyo-based travel company JTB Group has acquired Singapore travel agency Dynasty Travel.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, local media reports the deal at "several billion Yen" worth (1 billion yen is around $10 million).
JTB Group, a company with over 50 years of experience in the industry, runs travel brands such as JTB Sunrise Tours, an inbound-focused online travel service in Japan, and JAPANiCAN, an online hotel and holiday package reservation portal.
JTB says the acquisition will help expand its service into other Asian markets.
Dynasty Travel is also a long-standing brand in Asia, with over 35 years running corporate travel services, group tours, hotel and cruise bookings, customized holidays, and claims to have approximately 50,000 travellers annually.
The company will continue to operate under the same brand and management team, with a push into Indonesian and Malaysia in April this year and also expansion to China and Australia later in 2014.
The leisure travel business accounts for around 70% of its business - the remaining 30% is from corporate travel (including MICE).
JTB Group and Dynasty Travel say they will work together to tap increasing levels of tourist traffic from South East Asia visiting Japan by offering unique travel packages (over 1,000 in number) to the country.
The company says:
"It is a good corporate strategic move as the company now has a stronger corporate profile. Corporates and leisure travellers will be even more confident to use our products with the backing of the global conglomerate JTB Group as a major travel agent."
Recent developments at Dynasty Travel include its launch of iPhone app (has about 13,000 downloads), AXS payments, and deployment of iPad mini tablets for all of its customer facing travel consultants to facilitate bookings.
When Regarding the split between online and offline channels, an official says:
"Many customers still want the more personal touch, reassurance of physical customer service staff, payment security and support in an emergency or after sales service. Besides, the divide between online and offline is gray.
"There are up to 25% of transactions at our retail offices and travel inquiries generated from online (channel) are eventually being closed over the sales counters due to complexity of the products."