Vacation Express

Vacation Express
Private
Industry Tour operator
Founded 1989 (1989) in Atlanta, Georgia
Founders
  • Kevin Hernandez
  • Gantt Cookson
  • Meg Deeb
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Key people
  • Rene Jongmans, president
  • Gantt Cookson, vice president of operations, co-founder
  • Kevin Hernandez, vice president of sales and marketing, co-founder

[1]

Parent Sunwing Travel Group
Website www.vacationexpress.com

Vacation Express is a tour operator based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company was founded in 1989. Vacation Express was purchased by Sunwing Travel Group in 2011 for an undisclosed sum.[2] The company has sold over 2 million vacation packages.[3]

History

Vacation Express was founded in 1989 by Kevin Hernandez, Gantt Cookson and Meg Deeb.[4] The company's initial offering was air/land vacation packages to Jamaica.[5] In 1992, the company began a charter flight from Atlanta to Cancun and eventually became known as a charter operator in the Southeast and Midwest.[2] By 1998, Vacation Express sold packages from nine U.S. cities to Cancun, Cozumel, Aruba and Costa Rica. That year, Vacation Express was purchased for $24 million by the subsidiary of Airtours, North America Leisure Group.[4] As part of the acquisition the Vacation Express began offering cruises, expanded its services into the Mid-Atlantic region and listed Baltimore as a chartered gateway.[6] After ten years in business, the company had grown to sell travel packages to 100,000 customers annually by 1999.[6] In 2003, Vacation Express was purchased by Flightserv Inc., a travel services division of eResource Capital Group, along with another tour operator for $16.5 million.[7][8]

In 2011, Sunwing Travel Group purchased Vacation Express for an undisclosed sum.[2] As a result of the sale Sunwing Airlines, a subsidiary of Sunwing Travel Group, sells fares through Vacation Express.[9][10] The company also sells charters flights through many airlines including Interjet, Swift Air and Aeromexico.[11][12][13] In 2015, Vacation Express announced that they would begin selling vacation packages to Cuba.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Company Overview of VE Holdings, Inc.". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Baran, Michelle (December 14, 2011). "Sunwing Acquires Vacation Express". Travel Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  3. ↑ Cogswell, David (September 6, 2015). "Meet Vacation Express At The Agent@Home Travel Summit in Atlantic City". Travel Pulse. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Del Rosso, Laura (October 2, 1998). "Airtours' Unit Acquires Southeast Operator". Travel Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  5. ↑ "About Vacation Express". Vacation Express. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  6. 1 2 Tenny, Lori (October 14, 1999). "Vacation Express' Decade of Growth". Travel Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  7. ↑ Creduer, Mary Jane (June 21, 2004). "Flightserv Gains Altitude". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  8. ↑ Cogswell, David (October 31, 2003). "MyTravel Group Sells 3 U.S. Firms". Travel Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  9. ↑ Williams, Dave (May 25, 2012). "Hartsfield-Jackson Welcomes Sunwing Airlines". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  10. ↑ Rector, Kevin (May 26, 2015). "Vacation Express Returns to BWI With More Seasonal Flights to Caribbean". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  11. ↑ Williams, Jason (June 10, 2014). "Vacation Flights Booming at High-Fare Cincinnati Airport". USA Today. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  12. ↑ Cogswell, David (September 23, 2013). "Vacation Express to Start Charters from Charlotte to Cancun and Punta Cana". Travel Pulse. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  13. ↑ Wartenberg, Steve (December 18, 2014). "Vacation Express to Resume Port Columbus Flights". Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  14. ↑ Nagle Myers, Gay (November 23, 2015). "New Entrants Expand Cuba's Tour Market". Travel Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
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