Vision Travel Acquires Goliger’s Travel

Correction: November 10, 2017 - 11:03 AM

The original press release indicated that Goliger’s Travel Plus has agreed to join forces with Vision Travel. However, Vision Travel is not acquiring the Goliger's Travel Plus brand, but rather, 12 travel agencies currently doing business under that brand. The original story below has been corrected.

Original Story:

Vision Travel Solutions continues to grow in Canada with the announcement that the company has acquired 12 travel agencies owned by Peter and Linda Van Der Heyden and operated as Goliger’s Travel Plus. Brian Robertson, president Vision Travel Solutions Ontario West, made the announcement today.

“Peter has built a great organization and we look forward to welcoming both him and his team into the Vision Travel family,” said Robertson. “As much as we are now a global company, this acquisition will create a much stronger network of brick and mortar locations across Ontario, complementing our personalized approach to travel.”

The existing locations flagged as Goliger’s Travel Plus, will rebrand to Vision Travel while Hanover Travel and other divisions of the company will continue to do business under their existing brand names.

The transaction is expected to be finalised by the end of this month (subject to customary conditions) and as part of the agreement, Peter Van Der Heyden will join the leadership team of Vision Travel, transitioning from his current role as president, Goliger’s Travel to vice president, Customer Experience at Vision Travel in 2018.

"Vision Travel’s focus on service was a key factor in this decision and their membership in Virtuoso is a perfect fit for our luxury clientele,” said Van Der Heyden. “I am confident that our staff and clients will see immediate benefits of being part of Vision Travel.”

An iconic Canadian brand, Peter and Linda Van Der Heyden opened their first Goliger’s location 31 years ago in Waterloo. The family-owned operation specializes in leisure, corporate and group travel and is “one of the largest independently owned travel agencies in Canada” according to their website.

This is the latest of several mergers and acquisitions Vision Travel has made of late, having merged earlier this year with US-based Direct Travel, and then acquiring both Toronto-based Travel Sensations Downtown and downtown Vancouver-based WD World Travel in mid-September.

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