TMC Musical Chairs

The game of musical chairs in the global TMC market continues with the announcement this week of the purchase of Synergi by The Travel Company who themselves where recently purchased by BCD (owner of WorldTravel). I view this as a stop gap measure designed to give BCD an immediate global presence. BCD will likely go ahead and purchase some of the members of this network, but for the time being the global reach of Synergi provides the new BCD TMC representation in 45 countries. The thing to keep in mind in that the "music hasn't stopped" in this game of musical chairs. Expect a lot more announcements from BCD, Hogg Robinson and TQ3 Navigant International over the next few weeks. These changes combined with contract renewals this year for GDS / airline DCA type agreements promises to make 2006 a turbulent year for business travel (sorry for the pun).