Loveland travel agencies come together

Merger should mean better deals for customers

LOVELAND — Two mainstays of travel in Loveland have merged.

New Horizons Travel and Loveland Travel combined operations earlier this month at its 3701 N. Grant Ave. location.

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The merger comes on the heels of the sale of Loveland Travel to New Horizons. President Dale Clarken would not disclose how much he paid for the Loveland agency.

Fred Morey, former owner of Loveland Travel, is now vice president of sales and marketing for the New Horizons Loveland location.

“(The merger) brought us more management capabilities that we needed in Fred staying on,” Clarken said.

Morey said travel-agency management personnel are hard to come by these days, which made the merger make sense.

“Dale and I have the same philosophies in the way we think about business,” he said. “It’s extremely hard to find good management people. One of the problems I was having when I had Loveland travel was, as a single manager, I spread myself way too thin. There wasn’t enough time to get everything done.”

The merger also means that New Horizons may get better deals from travel providers.

“It gives us more volume, which allows us to negotiate a little better with the airlines,” Clarken said.

Morey said, “In our industry, volume makes a difference … The merger will give us better buying power … Ultimately, that should equate to being able to get the lowest price for clients.”

Dick Peterson, owner of Loveland Travel King, said the merger is not likely to affect other Loveland travel agencies.

“I would assume it would have no effect,” he said. “I’ve seen (mergers) before. Mergers are a hot thing right now. With declining commissions from the airlines, you can get some economy of operations by combining.”

Kristina Rundquist, spokeswoman for the American Society of Travel Agents, said mergers are common, but the agency does not keep statistics on mergers.

“It’s just like any other industry,” Rundquist said. “There are a lot of mergers going on right now.”

Clarken said the merger bottom line is all about economy of scale.

New Horizons, which was founded in 1980, has five Colorado locations and employs 30 people. Last year, the agency recorded sales of $17.5 million.

Loveland Travel, which was also founded 20 years ago, had seven employees who were retained in the merger. Loveland Travel’s 1999 revenue totaled about $3.5 million.