(TravelDaily) China property development giant Wanda Group’s subsidiary Wanda Tourism made single-payment acquisitions of Nanjing Yuanye Tourism, Nanjing Overseas Travel, and Nanjing Yinyan Air and International Travel Service. They will hold an official signing ceremony and press conference to conclude the transaction on the 28th of October.
Wanda Tourism s “Buying Frenzy” is a only a means to an end
In a little over a year Wanda Tourism has already made 8 acquisitions of tour operators in the provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Anhui and the cities of Beijing, Shenzhen, Wuxi, and Qingdao. The three newly acquired private-owned tour operators in Nanjing will consolidated into the “Jiangsu Wanda Tourism Co Ltd”.
Both the acquired Nanjing Yuanye International Tourism and Nanjing Overseas Travel Co Ltd are under the Nanjing Yuanye Tourism Group and are licensed to conduct outbound tours. Nanjing Yinyan Air and International Travel Service Co Ltd was established in 1995 and is a specialist travel consultant. Their main offerings are in discount international and domestic air tickets, rail tickets, and hotel and resorts bookings.
During their recent “Buying Frenzy” Wanda Tourism’s standards for potential acquisitions have not been particularly high. Yueming Mo, Vice-President at Wanda Group says, “Potential acquisitions must be ranked among the top five on the local market, have solid credentials, professional management, and be able to service outgoing tours as well as handle land operations”. In the short-term Wanda Tourism is not just looking at the profitability from its acquisitions.
Wanda Tourism anxious to fill up its resorts and parks
Wanda Tourism is opening resorts and parks in ten major cities with cultural, travel, commercial, and hotel facilities. Wanda Tourism is investing from 20-50 billion RMB in each location, a total of 300 billion RMB. This massive investment in new projects is fueling Wanda Tourism’s buying spree of domestic tour operators around China. Wanda Tourism is aiming to get a huge customer base to channel towards its multi-billion RMB parks and hotels.
List of Domestic Tourism Investment Projects by Wanda Group
Investment Location |
Total Investment |
Number of trips received per year |
Start of operations |
Wuhan Central Cultural District |
50 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2011 |
Changbaishan International Resort |
20 billion RMB |
10,000,000 |
2012 |
Xishuanbannna International Resort |
40 billion RMB |
50,00,000 |
2015 |
Nanchang Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
30 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2016 |
Hefei Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
30 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2016 |
Harbin Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
40 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2017 |
Wuxi Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
30 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2017 |
Guilin Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
24 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2017 |
Guangzhou Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
30 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2017 |
Qingdao Wanda Cultural Tourism City |
50 billion RMB |
20,000,000 |
2017 |
Tour operator’s futile attempts to wait out Wanda Group
Wanda Tourism announced in 2013 that it would acquire 15-20 domestic tour operators. Now Wanda Tourism’s intentions are already clear. Consequently, the industry’s travel operators are likely to bargain hard and even bide their time waiting for the offer price to rise. However these futile attempts are no match for the sheer economic power of Wanda Group, which has 2 billion RMB in capital solely for acquisitions.(Translation by David)