Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily owned by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group since 2013. Club Med either wholly owns or operates nearly eighty all-inclusive resort villages in holiday locations around the world. History Foundation The Club was started in 1950 by Belgian entrepreneur Gérard Blitz. Blitz had opened a low-priced summer colony of tents on the Spanish island of Majorca, then another one in the island of Djerba (Tunisia). Great entertainer, Blitz was however no businessman and he went bankrupt in 1953. The main creditor was the tents supplier, Gilbert Trigano, the French "King of Camping"; Trigano took control of the Club and slowly pushed Blitz aside. The first official Club Med was built the next year in Palinuro, Salerno, Italy. The original villages were simple: Members stayed in unlit straw huts on a beachfront, sharing communal washing facilities. Such villages have been replaced with modern blocks or huts with ensuite facilities. Expansion Because of reckless spending, the Club was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1961. It was saved by the 35-year-old Baron Edmond de Rothschild after he had visited a resort and enjoyed his stay. With Rothschild financing, the number of villages increased greatly under Trigano's leadership from 1963 to 1993. Winter villages, providing skiing and winter sports tuition, were introduced in 1956 at Leysin, Switzerland. In 1965, the first club outside the Mediterranean was opened in Tahiti. Club Med broadened its reach by opening villages in the French Caribbean (Guadeloupe and Martinique). Originally attracting mainly singles and young couples, the Club later became primarily a destination for families, with the first Mini Club opening in 1967. Club Méditerranée S.A. had a branch in the USA named Club Méditerranée Inc, with several partners including Crédit Lyonnais and American Express. In 1974, upon his arrival as the new CEO of the Club for North America, Jean Lallemand, one of the first members of the Club and responsible of itslarge presence in Italy, hired as marketing manager the French HEC Jacques Bacon, who made the Club a huge success within 3 years through an aggressive and very efficient promotion; it was he who suggested the name Club Med. The new name was at that time reserved to the