Five powerhouse vacation and retail travel brands have been brought together under the newly created Sunwing Vacations Group, the vacation division of the WestJet Group, which will unlock more value for Canadians and provide customers from coast to coast with more affordable vacations to more sun destinations than ever before.

The creation of Sunwing Vacations Group comes on the heels of the WestJet Group's acquisition of Sunwing, which was completed in May 2023, and encompasses the leading Canadian leisure tour operators Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations, the growing United States tour operator Vacation Express, together with the Group's own travel retail businesses SellOffVacations.com and Luxe Destination Weddings. Together they form the largest vacations brands in North America. Each brand within Sunwing Vacations Group will continue to be marketed as a unique standalone brand.

"Our longstanding success at Sunwing has been centred on providing innovative vacation packages to Canadians. With the establishment of Sunwing Vacations Group, we are furthering our commitment and providing Canadians with even greater value and choice on sun travel," said Andrew Dawson, President of Tour Operations for Sunwing Vacations Group. "We are very excited to bring all of these brands together under Sunwing Vacations Group, and unite in our collective purpose of passionate people making vacation dreams come true."

"Sunwing Vacations Group, as a division of the WestJet Group, simplifies the complementary nature of WestJet Airlines and Sunwing Vacations," added Alexis von Hoensbroech, Chief Executive Officer of the WestJet Group. "As the largest packaged vacations provider in Canada, Sunwing Vacations Group will be instrumental in fulfilling the WestJet Group's strategy to provide affordable, year-round leisure travel for Canadians from coast to coast."

The new vacation division was recently unveiled to leaders across all brands within Sunwing Vacations Group. The event brought leaders and people managers across the brands together for the first time to celebrate and learn more about the brand relaunch, hear about the joint vision for the future and how they can be advocates for the positive developments for all employees and customers.

"We're thrilled to introduce Sunwing Vacations Group, and overjoyed that we were able to bring 140-plus leaders across all of these brands together to celebrate the launch of our new vacation division," added Samantha Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer for Sunwing Vacations Group. "Leaders across the business united in person to share brand-specific updates and discuss best practices to help inform the customer experience, and to help propel each of these brands further in pursuit of offering Canadians unparalleled choice wherever they're at in their vacation journey."

Sunwing Vacations Group also recently launched a new corporate website, [sunwingvacationsgroup.com](https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3995579-1&h=2723416672&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sunwingvacationsgroup.com%2F&a=sunwingvacationsgroup.com), which provides more information on the brands that make up the new vacation division, the company's culture, growth trajectory and North American timeline, the epic employees that drive the business forward, and the employment opportunities currently available across all brands.

Sunwing Vacations Group

Introducing Sunwing Vacations Group: home to North America's largest vacation brands

Canadian travellers and the Canadian travel industry are overdue for good news. 

We are excited to announce an agreement under which the WestJet Group will acquire Sunwing Vacations (inclusive of SellOffVacations and Vacation Express) and Sunwing Airlines to create a new, combined tour operating business which will be led by Sunwing’s CEO Stephen Hunter. As part of the agreement, Sunwing shareholders will become shareholders in the WestJet Group. This transaction will bring together two distinctly Canadian success stories to deliver new travel options and greater value for Canadians. 

Following the close of the transaction, the new vacation division will include both Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations Inc. The combination of WestJet’s strong balance sheet and vibrant growing national airline with Sunwing’s established brand and expertise in creating differentiated vacation packages will ensure this new tour operating business thrives. 

Like many Canadian businesses, the past two years have forced us to think long-term about what matters to us most, where we can manage costs and how we can expand our footprint while continuing to deliver on our purpose of making vacation dreams come true. It became abundantly clear that our reputation for innovative vacation packages would be strengthened by joining forces with a like-minded Canadian company with a well-established scheduled airline service. With WestJet, we have found that partner.

I am tremendously grateful for the role that our valued travel partners have played in Sunwing’s journey to date. In our long history as a company, we have always been motivated, challenged and excited by our trade partners and the agent community’s enthusiasm for helping our mutual customers make life-lasting memories on dream vacations at affordable prices. 

I hope and expect this working relationship will only strengthen in this next chapter, as we bring together two Canadian powerhouse brands to drive scale and continued growth in the travel sector. Specifically, having a single purchase point for vacation packages from more gateways to more destinations will simplify processes and help our agent partners grow their businesses. Additional benefits of the agreement include:

1.	More jobs. WestJet and Sunwing employees will have access to greater opportunities, whether they are pilots, cabin crew or tour employees. 

2.	More choice. We plan to strengthen the partnerships we have built with local, regional and international airports across and will be able to offer customers vacations to more destinations than ever before, in addition to increasing capacity year-round. Cities where WestJet operates will gain access to a wider array of vacation packages and regional growth is expected in several of our existing markets, particularly in Quebec where we have a longstanding presence. 

3.	Lower prices. The alignment between the two airline operations is essential to keep the business competitive as several low-cost carriers increase their presence in the Canadian market. 

I want to assure you that any existing plans customers have made with Sunwing will be honoured. Given that the agreement is subject to regulatory approvals, we will be operating business as usual for the time being.

Additional details on the agreement can be found in our official news release: [HERE ](https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/westjet-group-to-acquire-sunwing-vacations-and-sunwing-airlines-delivering-greater-value-and-more-sun-destinations-for-canadians-812680497.html)

Thank you for coming along on this journey with us, especially after weathering a difficult couple of years. Our industry’s best days are ahead of us.

Yours truly,

Andrew Dawson
President of Tour Operations
Sunwing 


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