TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations Acquires MalaPronta.com, Accommodation OTA, in Brazil

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain, September 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations, part of TUI Travel PLC one of the world's leading leisure travel companies, is pleased to announce the acquisition of MalaPronta.com, one of Brazil's leading domestic accommodation online travel agents (OTA).

MalaPronta.com is Brazil's fourth largest accommodation-only OTA, offering 1,200 properties in over 200 Brazilian destinations. It was established in 2004 by its founder and CEO Francisco Millarch and since then has earned a strong reputation with customers and hotel partners. MalaPronta.com translates to ´pack your bags´ which has helped the brand stand out in the market and achieve strong positioning. MalaPronta.com has achieved 117% compound annual revenue growth in the past 7 years.

TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations (TUI Travel A&D) is responsible for all the online accommodation businesses within TUI Travel. The accommodation OTA market is the fastest growing area of leisure travel and has experienced significant growth in the last 3 years particularly in emerging markets. TUI Travel A&D already has an existing presence in Brazil and throughout South America with Hotelbeds, the international accommodation wholesaler, which provides accommodation to the travel industry from across the region. The acquisition of MalaPronta.com compliments TUI Travel A&D's other consumer facing online accommodation brands which include LateRooms.com and AsiaRooms.com, leaders in the UK and Asia respectively.

Joan Vilà, Managing Director, TUI Travel A&D, commented: "Brazil is a very important market for us where we see tremendous growth opportunities particularly in the online accommodation segment as there is an increasing propensity to travel and a high percentage of customers booking online.  I am delighted to welcome MalaPronta.com into TUI Travel A&D and look forward to working with them to deliver opportunities for future growth throughout the region."

Chris Morris, Managing Director of the accommodation OTA businesses for TUI Travel A&D remarked: "MalaPronta.com is an established business with great brand memorability and SEO positioning. It is an excellent fit with LateRooms.com and AsiaRooms.com and our strategy to focus on the opportunities in the emerging markets. We look forward to working with Francisco Millarch and his team to develop the business."

MalaPronta.com will continue to be managed by its founder and CEO Francisco Millarch, who will report into Chris Morris. Francisco Millarch, CEO MalaPronta.com added: "This deal is a milestone for MalaPronta.com and is the result of our continued focus on quality and strong relationships with our partner hotels and clients over the years. We remain focused on growing and developing MalaPronta.com and, with TUI´s support and expertise, significantly increasing our footprint in the online travel market."

About TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations

TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations competes in high growth areas of the leisure travel market: accommodation wholesale; accommodation OTA (online travel agent); incoming services and cruise handling. The business is fast growing and has market-leading brands including the global brands Hotelbeds, Intercruises, Destination Services, Worldcome and Pacific World and leading local brands including LateRooms.com and AsiaRooms.com.

In the financial year ended 30 September 2011, TUI Travel Accommodation & Destinations had sales of €3.1billion and over 8000 employees across 50 countries. More information is available at: http://www.tuitravelplc.com/about-us/our-business/accommodation-destinations

About MalaPronta.com

Founded in 2004, MalaPronta.com is one of Brazil's leading domestic accommodation online travel agents. It manages over 1,200 hotels across more than 200 Brazilian destinations. In 2011 MalaPronta.com sold 130,000 room nights. MalaPronta.com is headquartered in Curitiba in the South of Brazil and has 29 members of staff.  More information at: http://www.malapronta.com

SOURCE TUI Travel plc