Liberty Travel
| Industry | Travel |
|---|---|
| Founded | New York, NY; 1951 |
| Founder | Fred Kassner and Gilbert Haroche |
| Headquarters | Montvale, New Jersey, USA |
|
Number of employees
|
2,200 |
| Parent | Flight Centre Ltd. |
| Subsidiaries | Gogo Worldwide Vacations |
| Website | www |
Liberty Travel is a retail travel and cruise company headquartered at 5 Paragon Drive in Montvale, New Jersey, United States. In 2016, Liberty Travel had over 125 stores in 14 states, and a total of 2,200 employees.
Liberty Travel is a sister company of GOGO Worldwide Vacations, which markets vacation packages wholesale to independent retail travel agencies.
In 2008, Flight Centre Ltd., the largest travel company in Australia, acquired Liberty Travel and GOGO for $135 million.
Liberty Travel was co-founded in 1951 by Fred Kassner and Gilbert Haroche, New York University classmates who started as a two-man operation in New York City. Initially, they focused on travel to the Catskills and Miami. They offered all-inclusive vacation packages that the general public could afford, which was at the time a novel approach.
Gilbert Haroche has been called the originator of the package vacation with the companies "deluxe economy package" offered in the early 1950s. Thereafter new destinations were added one by one and the concept took off alongside the age of jet travel. Haroche expanded the stores and became responsible for the retail side of the business (Liberty Travel) whereas Fred Kassner, his founding partner, became responsible for the wholesale business, Gogo Tours, which sold packages to agencies.
As of 1998, Liberty Travel had 200 stores in the Northeastern United States and Florida, and was the largest privately owned leisure travel chain in the U.S., with over one million customers annually.
Liberty Travel was featured on ABC's Nightline in September 2011 on the subject of Travel Agencies and how this business model is still relevant to today's travelers.
In May 2012, Liberty Travel introduced their new CEO, Emma Jupp.
In 2012, they opened a 10,000-square-foot flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City, with plans to open 10 more similar storefronts as large as 8,000 square feet around the United States in the next 5 years.
In 2013, they partnered with USA Today on the publication’s yearly 10Best award in travel.
In 2016, Dean Smith, the president of Liberty Travel's parent company, Flight Centre, declared "brick and mortar travel agents are still important".
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Wikipedia