BCD Travel acquires World Travel Service Inc. as part of on-going growth strategy

ATLANTA, May 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- BCD Travel today announced it has acquired Knoxville, Tenn.,-based World Travel Service Inc., one of the largest corporate travel agencies in the U.S.

"As a respected travel management company with a strong focus on mid-market corporate customers, World Travel fits our culture and growth goals very well," said Craig Bailey, BCD Travel's president of North America. "This acquisition shows our clear intent to continue to aggressively pursue growth opportunities and acquisitions that benefit our clients by strengthening our position as a leader in corporate travel well into the future."

Incorporated in 1946, the privately owned World Travel is the 13th largest corporate travel agency in the U.S. with more than 100 employees, a diverse portfolio of clients and annual sales of over $330 million. Focusing on corporate travel management as its core business, World Travel also operates a rapid-growing, award-winning meeting and incentive group called Liaisons Meetings & Incentives. The agency has operated as a BCD Affiliate since 2002.

"We've established close working relationships with BCD Travel leadership," said Lamar Shuler, president of World Travel Service. "Together we will continue to thrive, producing value for our customers, shareholders and our staff—who will have greater exposure to how a global company operates and more paths for long-term career growth."

The World Travel purchase is the latest in a series of investments BCD Travel has made in recent years to grow business, extend its global network and help businesses leverage the latest innovations for their travel programs.

Other significant BCD investments include the purchase of Tbiz from Travelocity, development of substantial proprietary platforms in business intelligence (DecisionSource®) and mobile technology (TripSource®), establishment of a new joint venture in Brazil and the acquisition by BCD M&I of Raleigh, N.C.-based Universal Meeting Management.

World Travel will continue operating under their brand as a business unit of BCD Travel.

About BCD Travel
BCD Travel helps companies make the most of what they spend on travel. For travelers, this means keeping them safe and productive, and equipping them to make good choices on the road. For travel and procurement managers, it means advising them on how to grow the value of their travel program. For executives, we ensure that the travel program supports company objectives. In short, we help our clients travel smart and achieve more. We make this happen in 110 countries with more than 11,000 creative, committed and experienced people. And it's how we maintain an industry-leading client-retention rate of 96%, with 2014 sales of US$24.2 billion. For more information, visit www.bcdtravel.com.

About BCD Group
BCD Group is a market leader in the travel industry. The privately owned company was founded in 1975 by John Fentener van Vlissingen and consists of BCD Travel (global corporate travel management), Travix (online travel: CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, BudgetAir, Flugladen and Vayama), Park 'N Fly (off-airport parking) and joint ventures Parkmobile International (mobile parking applications) and AERTrade International (consolidating and fulfillment). BCD Group employs over 12,500 people and operates in 110 countries with total sales of US$ 25.6 billion, including US$ 10 billion in partner sales.  For more information, visit www.bcdgroup.com.

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SOURCE BCD Travel

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