Northstar Travel Media, the parent company of Travel Weekly, has acquired Travel Weekly China, Travel Weekly Asia and Events China from Contineo Media, a multi-platform information provider based in Singapore, with locations in Beijing and Shanghai.
The acquisition of these travel trade titles brings together the Secaucus-based (NJ) Northstar’s leading North American brand, TravelWeekly, with Asia-based editions to create an international network with platforms serving the fast-growing global retail/leisure segment of the travel industry.
Travel Weekly China provides the travel industry in China with vital trade news and market intelligence. It is distributed monthly to 12,000 qualified and authorised travel trade professionals in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
Travel Weekly China and Travel Weekly Asia (pictured left) e-newsletters are delivered daily to more than 42,000 travel readers.
The teams of Travel Weekly China and Asia will report to Northstar's executive vice president, Bob Sullivan, who is also publisher of Travel Weekly in the U.S.
The acquisition also includes Events China, a MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conventions and Events) industry brand serving China through print, e-books, events and the leading industry awards programs.
Northstar publishes Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings,Meeting News, and Incentive for the North American markets. The company plans to aggressively expand its presence in the fast-growing China MICE market with its latest acquisitions.
Events China will be co-branded and re-launched as M&C Events China and M&C Asia. Northstar Meetings Group's senior vice president/group publisher, Bernie Schraer, and senior vice president/editorial director, Lori Cioffi, will oversee the relaunch and co-branding of this title.
Northstar has established Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd as its legal and corporate entity for these brands.
In conjunction with the transaction, Singapore-based Irene Chua has joined Northstar as the group publisher of the acquired brands. She is the former associate publisher of Travel Weekly Asia and Travel Weekly China, as well as a former associate publisher at TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd.
“The addition of Travel Weekly China, Travel Weekly Asia, and Events China expands our portfolio into the largest and fastest-growing travel markets in the world,” said Thomas Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Media (pictured right).
“We’re very pleased that a very talented travel industry team will be joining us to build the Travel Weekly and Events brands in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Travel Weekly China's publisher, Susan Li, said, “Today’s travel professionals need relevant and timely information impacting their business. By joining forces with Northstar Travel Media, Travel Weekly China and Travel Weekly Asia will provide audiences and advertisers access to a global suite of information and media platforms. We look forward to creating a powerful partnership and many years of continued growth as part of the Northstar team.”
According to PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview Sixth Edition, the Asia Pacific region surged past Europe to become the world's largest regional travel market in 2012, with US$326 billion in gross travel bookings. Despite weakening of prominent local APAC currencies against the U.S. dollar, PhoCusWright projects 10% growth for China and 12% growth for the Southeast Asian travel markets between 2012-2015. At US$106.3 billion in 2013 of gross bookings, China is the largest travel market in the APAC region.