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Tourism: Best travel agencies in Romania
Happy Tour and Eximtur are the biggest travel agencies in Romania, according to their business figure. They are followed by Christian Tour, whose shareholder, Cristian Pandel, aged 37, owns the largest group of travel agencies with businesses of 180 million lei.
Christian Tout is among the first three travel agencies with a business figure of 155.8 million euro, obtained in 2012. “Last year we had a business increase of 30%, based on additional charter flights and the opening of new offices at national level. The best sold destinations are Greece, Turkey, Spain and Bulgaria,” Pandel declared. Last year Pandel bought Europa Travel agency, which recorded sales of over 24.6 million lei in 2012.
Happy Tour, set up by Nicolae Demetriade and bought in 2007 by GED a Spanish investment fund, remains the biggest travel agency in the last decade. The agency had a 10% growth in 2012 with businesses of 182 million lei.“Happy Tour agency made most of the 40 million euro incomes from corporate deals, since the holiday part was transferred to Prestige Tours, the tour operator of the group. The biggest agencies in countries like Great Britain, Germany, France or Spain have businesses of hundreds of million euro. In Spain we are talking about 60 million foreign tourists, while in Romania there are less than 1.5 million tourists,” said Javier Garcia del Valle, the general manager of Happy Tour. He said that the investment fund he represents does not intend to buy more agencies in Romania but if such an opportunity comes up he will not refuse it.
Eximtur agency ranked second in 2012. It is owned by Lucia and Radu Morariu. The agency increased sales by 17% reaching 157 million lei. “Last year we recorded growths in the business and domestic holiday sector. We had many events we organized and at the same time the demand for the Romanian littoral increased,” said Lucia Morariu.Although it had a business increase of 16.6%, Perfect Tour, owned by Corina Pacuraru, went down in the top to 4th position, with 110 million lei. Sorin Vaduvoiu, the general manager of Perfect Tour says the agency extended its corporate client portfolio last year. The demand for Disneyland Paris holidays and cruise holidays have also grown.
The online agency Vola.ro maintained its 5th position with sales of 92.8 million lei , 40% more than the previous year. The firm is owned by a Polish investment fund registered in Cyprus (66.6%) and by Daniel Truica (33.3%).“Most plane tickets are booked for Madrid, Paris, London, Vienna and Barcelona. The city break top is different and we sell transport and accommodation. Venice ranks first but Lisbon is also in demand,” Truica said.
Accent Travel & Events, administered by Lucian Boronea, went down two positions to 6th, although business went up by 5% to 75 million lei. “It was better than in 2011. We developed the re-sale agency network, especially for domestic tourism. The highest sale volume was registered for the Romanian littoral,” Boronea said.
Hotel Air Agency ranked 7th last year, with business of 74.2 million lei, on the rise by 30%. The firms is owned by Ioannis Ioannidis.
Business Travel Tourism, held by Paula Elena Dobrescu, went down one position to 8th, with business of 66.4 million lei, 18.5% higher than the previous year.
Mareea agency owned by Marius Usturoiu got into Top 10. Mareea Comtur company which administers the agency had a business figure of 64 million lei in 2012, on the rise by 47%.Mareea took advantage of the high demand for seaside holidays and is one of the largest tour operators specialized on this segment. “we consolidated our presence in the local market and increased the sale volume both on the littoral and to other destinations in Romania. We also increased the number of charter flights to summer destinations abroad,” Usturoiu said.
Prompt Service, owned by Goicea family ranks 10th with business of 63.8 million lei, on the rise by 20%.
The top takes into account the business figures registered by companies with the Finance Ministry. Agencies can either record their business figures or the commission representing tourist services.