The TH Group redesigns the company and launches a Tour Operating on medium and long haul destinations to offer a complete range for all targets.
Rimini, October 13, 2021 – TH Resorts today presented, within the event “TH Group. Traveling towards new horizons” at the TTG in Rimini, its medium-term projects: among these the brand revision with the launch of TH Group which groups the two souls, Travel and Hospitality and the new TO Baobab division led by Alessandro Gandola.
“The company, thanks to the support of an important corporate body, which includes Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Atesino Development Institute among the shareholders, aims to consolidate leadership in the leisure sector in Italy, thanks to the doubling of the hotel chain, the new TO Baobab division and the development of other product lines” declared Giuliano Gaiba, CEO of TH Group. “The articulation of the offer goes through the reorganization process that today led to the launch of TH Travel and Hospitality Group which includes the brands TH Resorts, Markando, Baobab and Touring Club Italiano.” The development process involved a complete revision of the brand proposal, according to the new needs and characteristics of customers. A commercial survey highlighted on the one hand a development potential that the group was not yet expressing, on the other hand after the pandemic a demand for greater safety and a personalized service level focused on discovering the surrounding territory.
“The strategy – declares the Central Director of Sales, Marketing and IT of TH Group Stefano Maria Simei is to increase the overall offer embracing a wider and more inclusive perimeter of all today’s travel needs. The offer has been reorganized under the TH Group umbrella, which represents the container under which the various different business lines have already been positioned since 2022. It is an important reorganization, but one that does not distort our business, born from listening to the market with the will to change to grow.”
The brands TH Resorts and Touring Club Italiano maintain the focus on the group’s primary product, dedicated to seaside, lake, mountain and art city villages and hotels; managed and marketed exclusively by TH, with increasingly technology-based services and stays with high hotel standards and customizable.
After the forced stop period due to the pandemic the brand Markando resumes with a tailor-made long haul programming with original and refined proposals.
Baobab is finally the new generalist large-scale TO suitable for all travelers who want to travel well, safely, always and in any case with particular attention to convenience, as stated by the new brand’s payoff “Traveling well is convenient”.
The destinations to be marketed will be the key ones for the Italian market: Greece and Spain for short haul, Egypt and the Canaries for medium haul, and the Caribbean, Africa and Indian Ocean for long haul.
“In TH there is the right team spirit to face this new challenge and design the future without setting limits on possible goals and target groups, from young people attentive to price, to higher spending segments – declares Alessandro Gandola, Director of the Generalist TO BU, the latest addition to the TH family. Vaccinations, green pass and the security measures implemented are prerequisites for the restart of the TO sector that has suffered the most, but if rethought as a model it can still guarantee great results. Programming will rely on medium and long haul destinations, with travel packages as well as individual services purchasable in the cart. A true outgoing generalist TO, able to meet an increasingly present market demand, given an offer that has shrunk over time.” In TH during the peak summer season 4,000 people work, including the induced, in the three segments sea, mountain and urban, with an average of around 80% local staff confirming TH’s strong commitment to enhancing human capital, especially local.
“On October 15 the TH Rome will open, followed starting next summer by new acquisitions, particularly in Sardinia and Sicily and then new job positions will open” declares Lorenzo Bighin Central Director of Operations and Human Resources TH Group. “We are working to make the TH brand increasingly appealing, to attract talents to grow in the sector, weakened by a serious lack of perspective.”
To do this the company continues its commitment to training with the project of the Italian School of Hospitality Foundation (SIO), in collaboration with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, the first in Italy to use the “hotel-School” model.
“Together with Ca’ Foscari, SIO launched the first degree course, entirely in English, in Hospitality Innovation and e-Tourism, followed by other courses and Masters to revive training in the sector and prepare the managers of tomorrow” declared Giulio Contini, General Director of the Italian School of Hospitality. “In November the first class of the degree course will start, 40 students from all over the world selected from 150 applications received from four continents, a sign of great attention to our country, cradle of a hospitality model widely imitated.”
The development and growth of the TH group are framed in a perspective of sustainability, development and growth involving people and territories, as explained by Ada Rosa Balzan, Sustainability Project Manager TH Group and CEO ARB SpA.
“TH is a concrete example of how even before the pandemic there was a focus on implementing sustainability themes in the daily management of facilities. Despite the severe crisis and economic losses, TH’s conviction and willingness to implement a serious, structured and measured sustainability path has become even stronger, which will lead them to be the first tourism entity at international level certified SI rating, an integral evaluation tool that measures environmental, social and governance sustainability.”
The company’s renewal would not have been possible without the work carried out in the last year and a half, dedicated to the review and streamlining of processes. An innovation, also digital, which is fundamental in the strategic development process.
“The results – tells Paolo Debellini, Head of Research & Innovation TH Group – have been an improvement in customer experience and optimization of internal processes. At the company the goal is to have an increasingly personalized customer experience, also through the development of a suite of products for the entire trade world and continuous optimization of all those processes where the presence of a human operator brings no added value.”