THL takes over Kea New Zealand and United

31st October 2012

Today Tourism Holdings Ltd (THL) announced that they have completed the transaction to take over United Campervans and Kea Campervans New Zealand.

THL currently operates Maui, Britz and Mighty campervans in Australia and New Zealand, took over Kea Australia in June of this year and also owns Motek and Road Bear in the USA. Taking over Kea New Zealand and United will give THL a greater control over the New Zealand market. The chairman stated that the merger “allows us to reduce costs across the combined businesses as duplicate resources and activities are removed.” more here

No front line jobs are planned to be affected and both Kea and United seem to kept as going concerns. Fleet rationalization and back office role amalgamation seem to be ways THL plans to maximize its benefits from the merger. THL suggests that the entire industry fleet size needs to decrease by 25% in order to remain profitable. This is based on the fact in the last year the number of vehicles New Zealand wide increased by 5% whilst total spend from overseas visitors dropped by as much as 11% with decreases in visits from the 3 key markets of Australia, Germany and UK. THL believes the next 2 years are going to steady or decrease further before getting better.

For the everyday tourist keen to see the country in campervan or motorhome, this means that they can expect to see increased competition as demand is low. THL now has the lions share of the market in terms of vehicle numbers and the financial clout to make sure their pricing remains competitive in order to take the lions share of sales. For the next 2 years at least, it seems that those reduced numbers of tourists choosing to go to New Zealand will benefit greatly from the current supply situation there and should definitely be shopping around for the best deal.