China: Wanda Tourism Enters Into Strategic Partnership With Royal Caribbean Cruises

In order to expand its cruise travel business, Wanda Tourism, a tourism service provider belonging to Dalian Wanda Group, entered into a strategic partnership with the Royal Caribbean International cruise company in mid-November. The agreement includes Wanda Tourism’s active promotion of the Royal Caribbean brand as well as the sale of related cruise products in 2016 and a period of time in the future. As one of the largest cruise agencies in China, Wanda Tourism intents to increase total sales of Royal Caribbean products by 30 percent in 2016. Furthermore, the two companies plan the introduction of “Wanda Cruise Travel 2016”. The Chinese cruise market has continuously grown throughout the last years.

Dalian Wanda Group additionally announced that Infront Sports & Media and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) with its IRONMAN brand will be integrated in a newly formed entity named Wanda Sports Holding Co., Ltd. This year, Wanda Group acquired both Infront and WTC (cf. EAP News from September 22, 2015). Infront’s President and CEO Philippe Blatter will step up to lead Wanda Sports in the same positions. Within the following months, the Wanda Sports management, composed of Infront’s and WTC’s current executives, will further review the entity’s structure to maximize strategic alignment. More details will be announced in the first quarter of 2016. (eap)