Our business originated with the incorporation and establishment of Westminster Travel Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, ("Westminster-HK") in Hong Kong in 1973.
In the early 1990s, Westminster-HK was appointed to act as consolidator to Cathay Pacific, the leading carrier in Hong Kong. This exclusive status gives us a competitive edge as we are able to secure Cathay Pacific air tickets at a preferential rate and sell them to other ticketing agents and corporate clients.
In 1994, Westminster-HK acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital of Jecking Tours & Travel Limited ("Jecking"), a company engaged in the business of providing travel services, in particular for leisure visitors in Hong Kong since 1978. The acquisition of Jecking allowed us to expand our customer base for visitors to Hong Kong. In the same year, we established our presence in the PRC through the setting up of Westminster-HK's first PRC representative office in Beijing, which offers non-operational travel advisory services and serves as a liaison office for Westminster-HK to reach its customers in the PRC.
In 1996, Westminster-HK organized its first MICE event from Hong Kong to Penang, Malaysia, comprising 400 staff of IBM. Following this, we formed the MICE team, which to date has planned and overseen many other MICE events, one of which was catered for more than 1,000 participants from the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Bangkok in 2008.
In 1997, Jecking was appointed as the exclusive Fulfillment Agent of China Airlines' Dynasty Packages. Following the experience we gained from this appointment, we sought further opportunities and were appointed as Fulfillment Agent to Philippine Airlines (from 1998 to 2000), Ansett Airlines (from 1998 to 2001) and Singapore Airlines (from 1998 to 2002). To cater to the increase in demand, we formed a dedicated team to liaise with the airlines for ticket orders and arrange for hotels and sightseeing tours.
In 1998, Westminster-HK expanded its operations in the PRC with the establishment of its second PRC representative office in Guangzhou.
In 2001, Westminster-HK was appointed by Hogg Robinson Holdings B.V. ("Hogg Robinson") (formerly known as Business Travel International BV) as its representative in Hong Kong, the PRC, Macau and Taiwan to provide travel management services to Hogg Robinson’s customers in these territories. This enabled us to raise our profile internationally and also increased our business opportunities.
In 2002, Westminster-HK acquired 75% interests in Wincastle Travel (HK) Limited ("Wincastle") (a travel service company specializing in leisure packages). The acquisition of a majority stake in Wincastle enabled us to boost our range of leisure travel products and tap on the extensive leisure travel experience of the management of Wincastle.
In 2004, Westminster-HK entered into a joint venture with Hogg Robinson to establish a joint venture company, Hogg Robinson Westminster Hong Kong Limited ("HRG-Westminster") in Hong Kong. HRG-Westminster is in the business of providing travel services to global corporate customers. This joint venture with Hogg Robinson allowed us to tap into their wealth of corporate customers, especially MNCs with presence in Hong Kong, for our corporate and leisure travel segments as well as MICE events.
In 2004, Westminster-HK acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital of Wesminster Travel Limited (Taiwan) ("Westminster-TW") and Westminster Travel (S) Pte. Ltd. ("Westminster-SG") (formerly known as Sime Travel (Singapore) Private Limited), thereby extending our Group's presence to Taiwan and Singapore. Westminster-TW and Westminster-SG are companies that have been in the business of providing travel services since 2000 and 1973 respectively.
In 2005, Westminster-HK was appointed as the International Sales Office for the worldwide hotel chain, Best Western International in Hong Kong, Macau and the PRC. As the International Sales Office, Westminster-HK is tasked to market Best Western International and has sole exclusive rights of distribution in the said jurisdictions. Our appointment with Best Western International brought us recognition in the hotel industry.
In 2007, pursuant to a share purchase agreement between Sime Travel Holdings Limited, Wealthy Aim Investments Limited ("Wealthy Aim") and SBI E2-Capital Limited dated 9 August 2007, Wealthy Aim purchased Westminster-HK from Sime Travel Holdings Limited. In the same year, Westminster-HK acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital in Westminster Travel (China) Limited and in turn became the indirect holding company of Westminster-Beijing. The acquisition of Beijing Westminster Air Service Co., Limited (????????????) ("Westminster-Beijing") enabled our Group to further establish our presence in China as Westminster-Beijing has obtained the Category One and Category Two certification of the China Aviation Transport Association (????????) in the PRC, which allows it to issue international and domestic air tickets.
In 2009, the Company was listed on the Catalist of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited on 23 January 2009.
In 2010, the Company has entered into a Shareholders Agreement with Webjet Limited (a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange) to establish a new 50/50 joint venture company, named Westweb Holdings Limited, to conduct online travel business in both Hong Kong and Singapore under the brand of Webjet.
In December 2011, Westminster-HK further expanded its leisure travel business and established S Travel Limited ("S Travel"), a 70% owned subsidiary. S Travel targets mainly free and independent travellers by offering diversified travel packages and products in its widespread branch network in Hong Kong.
In March 2012, Westminster-HK acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital of Travelex Hong Kong Limited, which was subsequently rebranded as TLX Travel Limited (“TLX”). TLX engaged mainly in corporate travel business. In April 2012, TLX has joined the network of UNIGLOBE Travel, a leading international travel management system, which enable its further excess to potential multinational corporate clients.
CTD Price at posting:
$5.05 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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