Coach companies will begin to look at closer destinations such as Hungary and Bulgaria, in the wake of tighter competition from low cost airlines that fly to Italy and Spain, the countries with the biggest Romanian communities.
"Short journeys have a higher growth rate than long ones, which is why we are trying to develop our tourism segment with shorter trips to places like Budapest, Sofia and Prague," said Dragos Anastasiu, co-owner of Eurolines, the second-largest player on the market of road passenger transportation.
He believes many small coach operators will experience serious problems this year.
"So far, both road transport companies and low cost operators have registered an increase in traffic, both on the ethnic travel segment and on the leisure segment. However, many local transporters will cease operations due to the lack of an international logistics network, because of the necessity to change drivers along the road, and the lack of a sales base abroad," explained the founder of the Eurolines group, which has over 10 companies with various activities that include coach transportation, airline ticket sales, a travel agency and a taxi company.
The competition from low cost companies, such as Blue Air, Wizz Air, and MyAir, many of which fly to Spain and Italy, has not affected the group's revenues on the segment of coach travel.
"145,000 passengers travelled on the international routes operated by Eurolines Romania in partnership with foreign partners, which are members of the Eurolines Organisation, a figure up 19% on last year," said Anastasiu.
According to previous statements from Eurolines representatives, the markets that registered the highest increase in terms of passenger numbers are Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
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