Posts Tagged "Tribune"

Travel Leaders acquires larger Virginia firm – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted by Mike Collins on Feb 14, 2011 in Travel News | 0 comments

Travel Leaders Group of Eden Prairie, the renamed travel business spinoff from Carlson Cos., is buying a larger travel organization, Vacation.com of Virginia, for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition combines two business and consumer travel firms that act as middlemen between travel agents and tour operators. In addition to its franchised travel agent business, Travel Leaders also runs company-owned travel agencies and corporate travel operations.

Both firms are paid by hotel chains, cruise lines and tour operators to promote their offerings, and Travel Leaders also is paid fees by its franchisees.

By growing larger, they can get better prices from vacation destinations, said Steve Loucks, Travel Leaders vice president of communications.

The combined privately owned companies expect $15 billion in gross sales in 2010, of which Travel Leaders will account for $6 billion, Loucks said.

Travel Leaders, spun off from Carlson in early 2008 with the goal of growing through acquisition, has 1,200 franchised travel agencies in all 50 states, including about 20 in the Twin Cities. Travel Leaders has 1,900 employees, including 120 in Eden Prairie.

Vacation.com, a brick-and-mortar company despite its Internet-sounding name, is a consortium of 5,100 independent travel agencies. It has 70 employees in Alexandria, Va., and will continue to operate separately.

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Holiday travel expected to increase – Cherokee Tribune

Posted by Mike Collins on Dec 20, 2010 in Travel News | 2 comments

Holiday travel will be heavier in Cherokee County this year despite rising gas prices and unseasonably cold temperatures.

The AAA Auto Club South predicts 2.5 million residents statewide will take a trip of 50 miles or more away from home between Thursday and Jan. 2, an increase of 3 percent from last year.

“Consumer confidence has increased a bit,” said Jessica Brady, manager of AAA Auto Club South public relations, adding there is pent-up demand among families who have not been able to travel the last year or two. “They are taking a trip this year regardless. Traveling this time of year tends to be cheaper because you are staying and dining with family.”

During the Christmas holiday weekend, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office will be focusing patrols inside neighborhoods and retail businesses to curtail property crimes. On New Year’s Eve, safety check points will be strategically placed around the county.

“Certainly, people will be out who are impaired and DUIs do increase,” Lt. Jay Baker, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said about the need for the check points on New Year’s Eve. “That is why we have these checkpoints, to get those drivers off the road.”

The Woodstock Police Department will have normal patrols during Christmas weekend and will hold Operation Safe Ride this year on New Year’s Eve.

For Operation Safe Ride, Woodstock Police officers will provide free rides home to patrons at local bars. Anyone needing a ride must be at an establishment in the city and live a reasonable distance within Woodstock and must have no money to call a taxi. PeeWee’s Wrecker Service and Neese Towing also will offer to tow vehicles to homes free of charge.

Cherokee residents traveling by car during the holidays will pay more at the pump.

The state average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $2.88 on Saturday, up from $2.77 a month ago. The national average was $2.98, increasing from $2.89 in November.

According to the website gasbud

dy.com, the average cost for a gallon of regular unleaded in Cherokee County on Saturday was $2.87. The average was $2.72 just before Thanksgiving.

Accuweather is forecasting sunny skies today with highs near 46 and an evening low of 28. Mostly sunny skies on Monday will warm the high to 52, with temperatures chilling to 34 by nighttime.

Tuesday brings a 30 percent chance of rain with a high of 54 and evening low of 34. The skies will clear and be mostly sunny on Wednesday and Thursday with highs near 55 and 54, respectively, shilling to 37 Wednesday and 41 Thursday.

Christmas Eve’s forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of rain and temperatures reaching 49.

Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, said the weather in Cherokee will be wet leading up to Christmas, then cold.

The almanac predicts showers early this week then a fair but “unseasonably cold Yuletide.”

“I don’t think you are going to get snow, but you will get more cold,” he said. “You are probably going to get a lot of cold snaps.”

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