From now, the greatest freelance tour operator from Nice, that is an expert in dry flights, is headed by Laurent Villa, the CEO of Mediaparc, one of the French leaders in posting.
Contrastes Voyages, the greatest tour operator from Nice (36 salaried employees, 40,000 customers, and a 113 million franc turnover in 1999) was taken over by the V Finance Group. Therefore, Jean-Pierre Baille, the CEO, and the two other associated founders, Jean-Luc Gales and Alain Boldron sold a company they had built in about twenty years.
Contrastes Voyages has got a travel agency in Nice. But, especially, the tour operator from Nice has made itself known as an expert in dry flights that it markets at broker prices, under the Boomerang brand. The activity had quickly extended to the tour operating with the organization of stays in the big European metropolis, and then of tours in North America. Boomerang has also produced a whole range of Monaco 'products', and it is the regular receptive of the Principality.
The rescuer, the V Finance Group is headed by Laurent Villa who is also the Mediaparc CEO, one of the French leaders in posting. Moreover, this is Laurent Villa who has become the leader since Contrastes Voyages was taken over. The new CEO plans to strengthen the managing and commercial teams, to reinforce the booking service and the distribution through a national network, and to perfect a search engine on Internet specialized in dry flights (Contrastes had already launched a programme on the Minitel, that allows to get the best fare for Nice-Paris flights).
The take-over has followed two other acquisitions of tour operators from Nice. The new Happy Travel Group took over Plein Vent, last year (a 130 million franc turnover), and Mer Montagne Vacances, lately (a 80 million franc turnover). Now, it is one of the last great freelance tour operator in the region, that is changing over, due to the movement of mergers that the travelling sector is experiencing.