Tourico Holiday, the US-based travel wholesaler, is joining Europe’s Hotelbeds Group following the announcement of a major industry merger.

Under the agreement, Tourico will join Hotelbeds’ bedbank business unit, with the Spanish company taking 100% control of the merged entity.

Tourico will initially continue to operate as an independent business, but a long-term strategy will be developed to combine the businesses.

The announcement comes less than a year after TUI Group sold Hotelbeds for approximately US$1.3 billion.

“We are entering the next phase of our development since becoming an independent company back in September,” said Joan Vila, Hotelbeds’ executive chairman. “Therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce that Tourico Holidays will join Hotelbeds Group.

“The proposed deal will enable us to enhance our footprint, especially in Tourico Holidays’ home market of North America whilst they will benefit from belonging to Hotelbeds Group’s global network. Together we will combine our best in class technology and distribution expertise for the benefit of both our hotel partners and clients,” he added.

Tourico Holidays’ CEO, Uri Argov commented; “We’re very excited about what this deal can mean to the B2B travel industry. Tourico Holidays’ management team looks forward to bringing together these two great businesses in order to better serve our combined supplier and client base. At a cultural level, this deal is strong because our two organisations are both entrepreneurial, dynamic and high energy – and just like Hotelbeds Group, we’re passionate about what we do and focus hard on execution.”

The comprehensive deal includes the Tourico Group and all its subsidiaries, including Tourico Holidays, Travel Holdings, Tourico Holidays Spain, and the Israeli tech subsidiary, TGS Israel Development Ltd. The value of the acquisition has not been revealed.