The Covid pandemic has caused a crisis in the TMC sector. The decimation of business travel and the lack of any real signs of when things will return to some form of normality has meant that many TMCs have failed – companies like Horncastle Executive with long proud histories went to the wall.
Ever since the start of the pandemic it has seemed inevitable that there would be a wave of consolidation as owners and investors wanted to cash out of an industry that may take years to recover and, indeed, may never do so.
In the past few weeks we have seen Amex GBT buying Egencia and old school Reed & Mackay being bought by new kid on the block TripActions.
In our latest podcast espide this week, we discuss whether this is the beginning of a new wave of consolidation and what buyers and sellers of TMCs might be looking for.
We look at why TMCs need to sell, how much they can expect to get when they do and whether today's big name TMCs will still be around int he face of well-funded comeptition from digital upstarts.
The podcast features Julia Lo Bue-Said of the Advantage Travel Partnership, David Bishop of Gray Dawes Group, Steve Allen of the Firebird Partnership and Jean-Michel Kadaner of Areka Consulting, along with regular host Mark Frary.