Boyd Gaming
to buy Jackie’s Travel
It is its second purchase in
By Rick Daysog
the Hawaii-Vegas package tour market
Star-BulletinJackie's Travel Inc., the popular Las Vegas tour packager, plans to sell most of its operations to Boyd Gaming Corp. In a notice filed this week with the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Jackie's Travel said it plans to sell most of its assets to the gaming company's Boyd Travel Inc., which owns local travel agency Vacations-Hawaii Inc.
The price was not disclosed.
Jackie's Travel referred questions regarding its 25 employees, the use of its corporate name and plans for the local travel agency's Hilo and Honolulu offices to Boyd. The Las Vegas company declined to comment this morning.
"This will be a smooth transition and we are confident that the new owners of Jackie's Travel will provide the same courteous and dependable service that (customers) are accustomed to," said David Gierlach, attorney for Jackie's Travel.
Jack Kitagawa, the travel agency's president and founder, yesterday said he is selling because he plans to retire. Kitagawa, 67, established Jackie's Travel in Hilo in 1985 after retiring as a school teacher.
The company has since grown into the largest local tour packager for Las Vegas, booking an average of 60,000 isle residents a year to the gambling mecca, Kitagawa said. He estimated that his company has moved more than 700,000 local visitors to Boyd's casinos during the past 12 years.
Boyd Gaming, founded by former Big Island resident Sam Boyd, runs the California, Fremont and Stardust hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, which arepopular with Hawaii vacationers.
Boyd entered the local travel agency business in October 1995 when it purchased Vacations-Hawaii. At the time, Boyd expressed an interest in acquiring Jackie's Travel but was not able to complete a deal.
