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Tripsta S.A.

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Tripsta S.A. was the parent company of tripsta, airtickets and travelplanet24, online travel agencies that provided transportation services, including airlines, ferry and train services, through its websites.[1]

At its height Tripsta S.A. operated in over 45 countries and territories and in over 34 languages.[2]

The company collapsed in 2018.[3]

History

[edit]

Tripsta S.A. was founded in 2005, originally under the brand name travelplanet24, by Philipp Brinkmann (CEO) and Kristof Keim (CCO) in Athens, Greece.[4] In 2010, Tripsta S.A. was formed in response to European expansion.[5] Tripsta S.A. maintained its headquarters in Athens and had a remote office in Bucharest.[6]

By 2010, Tripsta S.A. entered Poland, its first foreign market, and by 2015 had expanded to forty-five additional markets.[7]

In 2014, the company received €3.5 million in growth funding from the European Investment Fund.[8]

In March 2015, Tripsta S.A. acquired and integrated its competitor airtickets. The acquisition made Tripsta S.A. the largest ecommerce company in Greece.[9] It consolidated the technology and customer base of the two companies.[10]

As of 2017, the company served over one million customers and had gross bookings exceeding €500 million.[citation needed]

Suspension of operations

[edit]

Citing a "massive liquidity problem", Tripsta S.A. suspended operations in June 2018[3] when it was unable to repay debts up to €70 million to IATA and its members. As a result airtickets.gr converted its operation into a metasearch engine and travelplanet24 was restricted into selling solely ferry tickets.[3] Additionally it aimed to close down their office in Romania affecting around 100 employees.[11] Tripsta blamed partner Travelport for this outcome and initiated legal actions against it, with Travelport denying the accusations.[12] Airtickets.gr founder Dimitris Kontogeorgos publicly blamed Tripsta for failing to protect the reputation of airtickets.gr, as he claimed that Tripsta allowed its financial problems to be linked to airtickets.gr.[13]

Tripsta has not subsequently resumed operations. The airtickets.gr portal[14] and the ferry operations of travelplanet24[15] continue.

Brands

[edit]
  • Travelplanet24 (operated solely in the Greek market)[16]
  • airtickets (operated in 17 counties)[17]
  • NL Group (operated in 4 counties)[18]
  • Tripsta (operated in 46 counties)[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Tripsta S.A. About Us".
  2. ^ "Travelport and Tripsta announce new agreement | Travelport". www.travelport.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  3. ^ a b c May, Kevin (June 29, 2018). "Tripsta web agency halts operations amid financial row". Northstar Travel Group. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  4. ^ "Philipp Brinkmann — Co-founder and CEO, Travelplanet24/Tripsta | ALEXANDER ONASSIS BUSINESS DAY". aoen.onassis-scholars.gr. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  5. ^ "Tripsta S.a. - Athens 10562 (Attiki), 4 Kar. Servias". gr.kompass.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  6. ^ "Travelplanet24/Tripsta's Athens Headquarters - Officelovin'". Officelovin'. 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  7. ^ Cave, Andrew. "Greece Reloaded: How Tripsta Is Travelling Hopefully On The Road To Entrepreneurial Success". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  8. ^ "Επένδυση ύψους 3,5 εκατ. ευρώ στην Travelplanet24 - NEWS - Fortunegreece.com". Fortunegreece.com (in Greek). 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  9. ^ Greenwood, Aaron (April 2, 2015). "Merger creates largest OTA in Southern Europe". Travel Daily Media. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  10. ^ Hayhurst, Lee (April 1, 2015). "European OTA power player formed by merger of Tripsta and airtickets.com". Travolution. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  11. ^ "Greek tourism portal suspends activity, almost 100 employees affected in Romania". Romania Insider. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  12. ^ Krinis, Nikos (29 June 2018). "Tripsta/airtickets Blames GDS Partner for 'Massive Liquidity Problem'". GTP. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  13. ^ Krinis, Nikos (19 July 2018). "airtickets.gr Founder Blames Tripsta for Company's Fall". GTP. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Όλος ο κόσμος airtickets" (in Greek). Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  15. ^ "Find your ferry". Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  16. ^ "Αεροπορικά Εισιτήρια, Ακτοπλοϊκά | travelplanet24.com". www.travelplanet24.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  17. ^ "airtickets.com® - Flights, Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Hotels". www.airtickets.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
  18. ^ "NL Group® - Flights, Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Hotels". www.next-liberty.com. Retrieved 2017-09-21.
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