| Our
business originated with the incorporation and establishment
of Westminster Travel Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary
of the Company, ("Westminster-HK") in Hong Kong in 1973.
In the early 1990s, Westminster-HK was
appointed to act as consolidator to Cathay Pacific, the
leading carrier in Hong Kong. This exclusive status gives
us a competitive edge as we are able to secure Cathay Pacific
air tickets at a preferential rate and sell them to other
ticketing agents and corporate clients.
In 1994, Westminster-HK acquired the entire
issued and paid-up capital of Jecking Tours & Travel
Limited ("Jecking"), a company engaged in the business of
providing travel services, in particular for leisure visitors
in Hong Kong since 1978. The acquisition of Jecking allowed
us to expand our customer base for visitors to Hong Kong.
In the same year, we established our presence in the PRC
through the setting up of Westminster-HK's first PRC representative
office in Beijing, which offers non-operational travel advisory
services and serves as a liaison office for Westminster-HK
to reach its customers in the PRC.
In 1996, Westminster-HK organized its first
MICE event from Hong Kong to Penang, Malaysia, comprising
400 staff of IBM. Following this, we formed the MICE team,
which to date has planned and overseen many other MICE events,
one of which was catered for more than 1,000 participants
from the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan to Bangkok in 2008.
In 1997, Jecking was appointed as the exclusive
Fulfillment Agent of China Airlines' Dynasty Packages. Following
the experience we gained from this appointment, we sought
further opportunities and were appointed as Fulfillment
Agent to Philippine Airlines (from 1998 to 2000), Ansett
Airlines (from 1998 to 2001) and Singapore Airlines (from
1998 to 2002). To cater to the increase in demand, we formed
a dedicated team to liaise with the airlines for ticket
orders and arrange for hotels and sightseeing tours.
In 1998, Westminster-HK expanded its operations
in the PRC with the establishment of its second PRC representative
office in Guangzhou.
In 2001, Westminster-HK was appointed by
Hogg Robinson Holdings B.V. ("Hogg Robinson") (formerly
known as Business Travel International BV) as its representative
in Hong Kong, the PRC, Macau and Taiwan to provide travel
management services to Hogg Robinson’s customers in these
territories. This enabled us to raise our profile internationally
and also increased our business opportunities.
In 2002, Westminster-HK acquired 75% interests
in Wincastle Travel (HK) Limited ("Wincastle") (a travel
service company specializing in leisure packages). The acquisition
of a majority stake in Wincastle enabled us to boost our
range of leisure travel products and tap on the extensive
leisure travel experience of the management of Wincastle.
In 2004, Westminster-HK entered into a
joint venture with Hogg Robinson to establish a joint venture
company, Hogg Robinson Westminster Hong Kong Limited ("HRG-Westminster")
in Hong Kong. HRG-Westminster is in the business of providing
travel services to global corporate customers. This joint
venture with Hogg Robinson allowed us to tap into their
wealth of corporate customers, especially MNCs with presence
in Hong Kong, for our corporate and leisure travel segments
as well as MICE events.
In 2004, Westminster-HK acquired the entire
issued and paid-up capital of Wesminster Travel Limited
(Taiwan) ("Westminster-TW") and Westminster Travel (S) Pte.
Ltd. ("Westminster-SG") (formerly known as Sime Travel (Singapore)
Private Limited), thereby extending our Group's presence
to Taiwan and Singapore. Westminster-TW and Westminster-SG
are companies that have been in the business of providing
travel services since 2000 and 1973 respectively.
In 2005, Westminster-HK was appointed as
the International Sales Office for the worldwide hotel chain,
Best Western International in Hong Kong, Macau and the PRC.
As the International Sales Office, Westminster-HK is tasked
to market Best Western International and has sole exclusive
rights of distribution in the said jurisdictions. Our appointment
with Best Western International brought us recognition in
the hotel industry.
In 2007, pursuant to a share purchase agreement
between Sime Travel Holdings Limited, Wealthy Aim Investments
Limited ("Wealthy Aim") and SBI E2-Capital Limited dated
9 August 2007, Wealthy Aim purchased Westminster-HK from
Sime Travel Holdings Limited. In the same year, Westminster-HK
acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital in Westminster
Travel (China) Limited and in turn became the indirect holding
company of Westminster-Beijing. The acquisition of Beijing
Westminster Air Service Co., Limited (北京西敏航空服務有限公司) ("Westminster-Beijing")
enabled our Group to further establish our presence in China
as Westminster-Beijing has obtained the Category One and
Category Two certification of the China Aviation Transport
Association (中國航空運輸協會) in the PRC, which allows it to issue
international and domestic air tickets. |