Hotelplan Holding has acquired a majority shareholding in the Russian Ascent Travel Group. With a market share of 20%, Ascent Travel is the clear leader in the fast growing Russian ski holiday market. Ascent Travel was founded in Moscow in 1992 by its current management team, who will continue to run the company as an independently operated venture. The purchase price is confidential.

"The acquisition of the Russian market leader fits in perfectly with our strategy," stresses Christof Zuber, CEO of the Hotelplan Group. "Our intention is to continue to grow, in a targeted manner, with specialists in value-added markets." Inghams Travel, the leading British ski tour operator, already belongs to the Hotelplan Group, providing the group with many years experience in the ski holiday sector. This leads Christof Zuber to assume that it will be possible to achieve considerable synergies between Inghams and Ascent in terms of both production and marketing. Litsa Constantinou, the CEO Inghams Travel, will take charge of operational management of the entire Hotelplan Ski-Unit.

Ascent Travel is not only a ski tour operator, but also the market leader for emerging summer destinations, including Croatia and Montenegro, and has a strong market position for travel from Russia to southern Europe. "Thanks to our impressive summer and winter programme, our business is not strictly seasonal", explains Boris Burykin the CEO of Ascent Travel.