Northstar Acquires Leading B2B Travel Media Brands in Asia

Mar 03, 2014

Northstar Travel Media, the leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries and the parent company of TravelAge West, 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 Northstar’s leading North American brand, Travel Weekly, 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 authorized travel trade professionals in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Travel Weekly China and Travel Weekly Asia e-newsletters are delivered daily to more than 42,000 travel industry leaders.

Northstar has established Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd as its legal and corporate entity for these brands. The Travel Weekly China and Travel Weekly Asia teams, including Publisher Susan Li, will report to Bob Sullivan, Executive Vice President, of Northstar Travel Media.

The acquisition also includes Events China, a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events) industry brand serving China through print, e-books, events and the leading industry awards programs. Northstar is the dominant media company serving the North American meetings industry, with leading brands including Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News and Incentive. The company plans to aggressively expand its presence in the fast-growing China MICE market.

Events will be co-branded and re-launched as M&C Events China and M&C Asia and the staff will report to Bernie Schraer, Senior Vice President/Group Publisher, and Lori Cioffi, Senior Vice President/Editorial Director, of Northstar Meetings Group.

In conjunction with the transaction, Irene Chua, an experienced travel trade media executive based in Singapore, has joined Northstar as the group publisher of the Northstar Travel Media Singapore brands including Travel Weekly Asia and M&C Asia. Ms. Chua 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. “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.”

“Today’s travel professionals need relevant and timely information impacting their business,” said Susan Li. “By joining forces with Northstar Travel Media, Travel Weekly China and TravelWeekly 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 U.S. $326 billion in gross travel bookings. Despite weakening of prominent local APAC currencies against the U.S. dollar, PhoCusWright projects 10 percent growth for China and 12 percent growth for the Southeast Asian travel markets between 2012-2015. At $106.3 billion in 2013 of gross bookings, China is the largest travel market in the APAC region.

About Travel Weekly China and TravelWeekly Asia
Travel Weekly China and TravelWeekly Asia rank as Asia's leading travel industry B2B information brands, headquartered in Singapore, with offices in Beijing and Shanghai.

As a multi-platform information provider, the Travel Weekly brands connect buyers and sellers through print products, websites, electronic newsletters, e-books, video channels, conferences and leading industry awards including the China Travel Weekly Industry Awards.

About Northstar Travel Media
Northstar Travel Media LLC is the leading provider of news, information and data for the travel, meetings and hospitality industries and parent of brands including Travel Weekly, Business Travel News, Travel Procurement, PhoCusWright, Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News, Incentive, TravelAge West, Family Getaways, Explorer, Your Travel Insider and Luxury Cruise News.

Northstar's electronic directories – Travel Weekly's Hotel and Travel Index, Official Cruise Guide, and M&C Facilities Search and Successful Meetings Facilities Search – provide in-depth data on hotels, meeting and convention properties, and business travel in the United States and internationally.

In addition to its directories and periodicals, Northstar publishes a number of online subscription information resources, including The Beat, Travel42, STAR Service Online, Intelliguide Corporate and BTP24.

Northstar produces more than 40 face-to-face events including The PhoCusWright Conference, PhoCusWright Europe, CruiseWorld, Global Travel Marketplace, M&C InterAct, Successful Meetings Universities, The Beat Live, Tech Talk, Business Travel Trends and Forecast Forums and the Travel Weekly Leadership Forums.

Northstar also is an industry leader in marketing services, custom communications, content licensing and database management serving the travel and meetings industries through Northstar Marketing Solutions.

Based in Secaucus, NJ, the company also has offices in New York, NY; Glen Ellyn, IL; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Winston-Salem, NC.

Northstar Travel Media, LLC is a portfolio company of Wicks Group of Companies LLC, a leading private equity investor in the information and business services, communications, and media sectors.