Expolanka Holdings acquires stake in Akquasun Holidays India

Expolanka Holdings PLC acquired the controlling stake in Akquasun Holidays India (Pvt) Ltd at a cost of $ 915,000, consolidating its presence and strength in the leisure and travel sectors.

Akquasun Holidays, the Mumbai-based destination management specialist is a B2B Destination Management network company. Primarily mandated to attracting traffic from emerging markets such as India, Russia and China, it is part of the travel and leisure cluster of the Expolanka Group which also includes Luxe Asia which focuses on inbound high-end tourists, and Classic Travels, the leading outbound travel company.

Group Chief Executive of Expolanka Holdings, Hanif Yusoof, said

“This acquisition gives us greater impetus and strength to operate in a high growth industry such as the tourism sector and thereby help to increase tourist figures to Sri Lanka.

It can be seen that China, India and Russia with their population densities are now vibrant markets from where significant numbers travel to Sri Lanka and many other countries in the Asian region.

This is seamlessly facilitated by Akquasan’s wide global network of its own offices in the Maldives, Mauritius, Hong Kong, China, Dubai, Tanzania, South Africa, UK, Russia and the USA.”As a part of its drive towards expanding its business further, Akquasun Holidays India (Pvt) Ltd invited Expolanka to be a part of this exercise.

Based on a careful and long thought out Investment Appraisal, Expolanka invested up to 50 percent of the equity shares with management control of Akquasun Holidays India (Pvt) Ltd.

This strongly positions Expolanka as a leading player in the tourism industry with a strong global footprint.

It also provides an opportunity for Expolanka to strengthen its position in the local tourism industry while enabling it to enhance its profit objectives as well. India’s tourism sector has shown tremendous potential over the past few years witnessing an average growth rate of 9- 10 percent over the last five years. The country had experienced approximately 12 million outbound Indian tourists during 2010.

This clearly indicates the vibrancy of the outbound Indian tourism market, the upward mobility of the average Indian citizen, the increase of Indian Airlines and development in the aviation industry, all of which point to continued growth .