Manchester-based Travel Counsellors has announced the acquisition of the Belgium-based Planisto travel technology platform and its key development team.

Travel Counsellors said the deal follows its news of record trading with annual bookings reaching £933 million — a 23% increase on the previous year.

“Planisto, a proprietary, cloud-native technology platform, empowers travel advisors to create and manage complex personalised itineraries for their customers, complementing our existing digital assets,” said Travel Counsellors.

“The deal follows the announcement at our annual global conference in November of a £15 million tech investment for the upcoming year, with a particular emphasis on tailor-made itinerary software powered into our digital, personal platform, Phenix.

“The integration of Planisto’s software into Phenix will accelerate our tech development roadmap and build on these existing plans by adding proven market-leading functionality for the benefit of our community globally.

“This is our second acquisition in our almost 30-year history, following the successful deal of Holidaysplease in March 2023.

“The move cements our focus and investment in the premium travel market and comes off the back of record trading, with annual bookings reaching £933 million (representing a 23% increase from the previous year).

“Many Travel Counsellors based in the Netherlands and Belgium have already used the Planisto software, affirming its proven success and strong position to support our franchisees.”

Travel Counsellors CEO Steve Byrne said: “We are delighted to have acquired such a highly regarded and award-winning technology platform in Planisto – which has been on our radar for some time – as well as the hugely talented development team behind its success.

“This acquisition perfectly aligns with our vision and passion of building a community of the very best travel entrepreneurs who provide the human touch empowered by state-of-the-art technology to deliver exceptional, bespoke and highly personalised travel experiences for customers.

“In addition to strengthening our proprietary tech and talent, the deal will further accelerate our current development roadmap for our digital, personal platform Phenix and enhance the end-customer booking experience.

“The acquisition supports our growth strategy as we accelerate towards being a £1bn+ transaction value platform in the very near future.

“We are committed to invest in our scalable technology and operating model, and we continue to look forward to the future with excitement and confidence.”