Top five travel agencies on the market, 50m-euro lower revenues in 2009

The five biggest travel agencies on the Romanian market, Happy Tour, Eximtur, Aerotravel, Perfect Tour and Marshal Turism last year registered almost 52m-euro lower total revenues compared with 2008, when revenues stood at 180m euros, according to a ZF survey. The first slump on the travel agency market in ten years was registered last year, with drops ranging between 8 and 42%, according to market players. Plane ticket sales and trips abroad were the hardest hit by the economic downturn, with these segments contributing over 50% to turnover generated by the five largest travel agencies, except Cluj-based Eximtur. Thus, the main five players on this market last year derived 128m euros, according to preliminary figures reported by Happy Tour, Aerotravel, Perfect Tour and Marshal, which means their sales went down by 30% against the previous year. Agencies expect rising turnover this year, with Happy Tour budgeting the biggest increase, 37%, as a result of gaining new customers.