Skift Take
Travel Leaders has turned to a membership model instead of franchising or partnerships to build out its global presence in the corporate space. It's one way to grow without costly acquisitions, although more acquisitions are probably on the way too.
It's been interesting to watch Travel Leaders Group grow in recent years, changing its strategy from dominating North America to making strategic inroads in business travel markets around the world.
The company's most recent move to add 40 new member agencies to its Travel Leaders Corporate arm shows the way that industry consolidation has forced regional companies to begin competing on a global level. Instead of turning to acquisitions, as Travel Leaders did in 2017 when it bought Altour, membership is now the focus.
"We've traditionally been more domestic, [and] a lot of corporate growth plan and strategy have been around acquisitions," said Gabe Rizzi, president of Travel Leaders Corporate. "We acquired about 11 agencies that were fairly regional in scope and nature but did have some very large customers. Those customers have caused us to seek fulfillment opportunities outside our
