Global Connect Travel

What Global Connect Travel does

Global Connect Travel, S.L. (Grupo GCT) is a privately held Spanish travel group founded in 2004 and headquartered in Madrid, operating a portfolio of four specialized travel brands under one corporate umbrella. The group runs three retail-facing agencies—Hayatravel (general leisure and vacation packages), Haya Peregrinaciones (Catholic pilgrimage-focused retail), and Sialia (educational and youth travel)—alongside Éxodo Peregrinaciones, which functions as the group's B2B tour-operator arm and is positioned as the only inbound receptive tour operator 100% specialized in religious tourism in Europe and the Middle East. The group holds CICMA license 4148 (Comunidad de Madrid travel agency license) and serves a heterogeneous mix of end customers including individual leisure travelers, Catholic pilgrimage groups, schools and youth groups, and third-party travel agencies seeking specialized religious-tour product.

Revenue mechanics combine standard Spanish travel-agency economics: retail booking commissions and service fees on packaged travel (service fees ranging from €7 for basic online cancellations to €30 for more complex modifications), supplier-side commissions on accommodation, transport, and tour components, and wholesale B2B margins earned by Éxodo Peregrinaciones when selling block ground-handling and tour product to other agencies. The technology stack is conventional rather than proprietary: brand websites with online booking flows, payment processing integration with BBVA, insurance integration with Intermundial, rail ticketing through RENFE, and standard analytics instrumentation. The group employs 12 people, operates without disclosed outside funding, and combines direct-to-consumer marketing (social media, email campaigns) with sales-led B2B outreach for its tour-operator division.

The combined positioning—niche vertical specialization in religious tourism, multi-segment retail reach, and a B2B wholesale arm—represents a portfolio approach to the Spanish and European religious-tourism market rather than a platform or technology play. There are no disclosed data assets, proprietary AI/ML capabilities, or significant capital inflows in the input, and revenue and unit-economics disclosures are absent. The company's strategic posture is therefore best characterized as a stable, owner-operated specialty travel retailer and wholesaler operating in a defensible but low-growth vertical, with optionality from the B2B Éxodo arm but limited visible scaling levers.

Name

Global Connect Travel

Legal name

GLOBAL CONNECT TRAVEL, S.L.

Website

https://grupo-gct.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Global Connect Travel is a privately held Madrid-based Spanish travel group operating four brands—Hayatravel, Haya Peregrinaciones, Sialia, and Éxodo Peregrinaciones—serving leisure travelers, Catholic pilgrims, youth/educational groups, and B2B agencies with a specialized focus on religious tourism across Europe and the Middle East.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel Agency Services

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Tour Operators (561520)

akta.pro primary industry

Pilgrimage Packages (Air-Inclusive) Tour Operators (THAKAHAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Religious & Pilgrimage Retail Travel Agencies (THAKABAL), Faith-Based Group Travel (Church/Mosque/Temple) Organizers (THAKAHAH), Leisure & Generalist Retail Travel Agencies (THAKABAA)

Keywords

• Travel agency services
• Religious pilgrimage tours
• Youth language travel
• Receptive tour operator
• Vacation packages

Headquarters

HQ city

Madrid

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Travel Agency Retail Services: GLOBAL CONNECT TRAVEL acts as a retail travel agency, offering flights, hotels, combined travel packages, and travel services from third-party providers. Revenue is generated through service/management fees charged to customers.
2. Tour Operator Services (Éxodo Peregrinaciones): As an international receptive tour operator specializing 100% in religious tourism, Éxodo Peregrinaciones creates and operates pilgrimage packages across Europe and the Middle East for other travel agencies.
3. Management Fees: Service fees charged per passenger and per transaction: €30/person for flight re-issuance under new conditions, €20/person for hotel modification management, €20/person for reimbursement processing, €12/person for same-day cancellations.
4. Document Delivery: €7 fee for physical ticket delivery service.
5. Insurance Products: Cancellation insurance offered through Intermundial partner, providing reimbursement for cancellations due to illness, job loss, or other unforeseen events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Global Connect Travel, S.L. (Grupo GCT) is a Madrid-based travel group operating three retail travel agencies and one international receptive tour operator under four brands: Hayatravel (vacation packages), Haya Peregrinaciones (religious pilgrimages to Holy Land, Fatima, Rome, and other sacred sites), Éxodo Peregrinaciones (B2B receptive tour operator 100% specialized in religious tourism across Europe and the Middle East), and Sialia (language immersion travel for children and adolescents). The company sells third-party flights, hotels, cruises, and combined travel packages, while also organizing its own pilgrimage and educational products.

Product overview

Global Connect Travel operates as a travel group comprising three retail travel agencies and one tour operator under a unified platform. The portfolio consists of Hayatravel (general vacation packages), Haya Peregrinaciones (religious pilgrimages), Éxodo Peregrinaciones (inbound religious tour operations), and Sialia (youth language immersion travel). The company functions as both a travel agency intermediary selling third-party products and services (flights, hotels, combined trips) and as an organizer for its own religious tourism products, particularly pilgrimages to destinations across Europe and the Middle East.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Hayatravel: Online travel agency offering vacation packages with domestic and international destinations at competitive prices.
• Haya Peregrinaciones
• Éxodo Peregrinaciones
• Sialia

Products and services

• Hayatravel Online travel agency offering vacation packages with national and international destinations at competitive prices, serving individual travelers and families seeking conventional holiday packages.
• Haya Peregrinaciones Religious pilgrimage specialist organizing group and individual pilgrimages to sacred sites including Holy Land, Fatima, Rome, Marian destinations, Medjugorje, and John Paul II routes, serving parishes, dioceses, religious communities, and individual pilgrims.
• Éxodo Peregrinaciones International receptive tour operator specializing 100% in religious tourism across Europe and the Middle East, providing catechetical and evangelizing routes with Christian guides for pilgrimages, serving other travel agencies as well as direct clients.
• Sialia Educational travel brand offering language learning courses, trips, and camps abroad for children and adolescents, combining classroom instruction with immersive cultural experiences and real-world language practice.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• IntermundialsupportingOthersInsurance partner providing cancellation insurance products offered to customers during the booking process.
• BBVAsupportingTechnology or IntegrationPayment gateway provider processing credit card, debit card, and bank transfer payments through their secure virtual POS (TPV Virtual) with Commerce Electronic Secure (CES) functionality.
• Third-party Travel SupplierscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNetwork of travel suppliers and operators including Iberojet, Solplan, Eurojet, Vivatours, Viamed, Iberojet-Cruceros, Iberski, Transhotel, Costa Cruceros, Pullmantur, MSC Cruceros, and low-cost airlines for flights, hotels, cruises, and combined travel packages.
• RENFEsupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSpanish national railway operator providing train ticket booking services through the website, both exclusively and combined with airline routes.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Viajes El Corte Inglés: Largest Spanish travel agency network, offering leisure, corporate, and group travel across all segments. Comparable to Hayatravel as a generalist Spanish retail agency but operating at vastly larger scale and broader portfolio.
• Logitravel: Spain-headquartered online travel agency selling package holidays, flights, and hotels. Comparable to Hayatravel as a Spanish travel agency but competing on digital scale and proprietary technology that GCT lacks.
• Destinia: Spanish online travel agency offering flights, hotels, and vacation packages to a global customer base. Comparable to Hayatravel as a Spain-rooted travel intermediary but with stronger proprietary digital platform.
• Catai Tours: Established Spanish tour operator offering organized vacation packages and group tours to international destinations. Comparable to GCT's tour-operator function (Éxodo) but focused on general leisure rather than religious tourism.

Direct peers

• 206 Tours: US-based tour operator specializing exclusively in Catholic pilgrimages to Holy Land, Europe, and other religious destinations. Closest direct peer to Éxodo Peregrinaciones in religious tourism focus and tour-operator business model.
• Magi Travel: Specialist in Christian pilgrimages and Holy Land tours, serving parish groups and individual travelers. Comparable to GCT's religious brands in product focus and group sales motion.
• Trinity Travel: Religious tour operator organizing pilgrimages for Catholic parishes and groups to Holy Land, Fatima, Lourdes, and Rome. Highly comparable in target customer (parishes/groups) and religious-tour-operator business model.
• Select International Tours: US-based operator of Catholic pilgrimage tours worldwide, including Holy Land, European shrines, and Marian sites. Comparable to Éxodo Peregrinaciones in niche specialization and group-leader sales model.
• Pèlerin: French pilgrimage and religious travel specialist offering group and individual pilgrimages to Lourdes, Holy Land, Fatima, and Rome. Direct competitor in the European religious-pilgrimage retail and tour-operator space.

Regional players

• Nautalia Viajes: Spanish retail travel agency chain offering vacation packages, cruises, and group travel domestically and internationally. Comparable to Hayatravel in Spanish retail agency positioning and package-holiday offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/global-connect-travel

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global Connect Travel