Travel demand is picking up: Happy Tour sees 20-25% growth

Autor: Mirabela Tiron 04.04.2011

Happy Tour travel agency, together with Paravion and Travel House, businesses taken over last year, in 2010 generated turnover put at 43m euros, up 8% year-on-year, according to the company's officials and ZF calculations.

"We do not have the final audit results, but we estimate consolidated turnover generated by Happy Tour, Paravion and Travel House last year amounts to almost 43m euros," stated Javier Garcia del Valle, executive vice-president with Happy Tour Group.

Spain's GED investment fund, which owns Happy Tour travel agency, last year bought from Corina Souvannasouck, Stefano Bardi and Luca Zucchetti 80% in Travel House stock. The agency in 2009 reached 6m-euro turnover and 110,000-euro net income.

The same year, the Spanish fund also bought Paravion.ro travel agency. The two companies bought by GED retained their names and operate independently from Happy Tour, but complement Happy Tour's business through the access to client databases and a rising negotiation power with corporate clients.

"For this year, we expect travel demand to rise and consumption to rebound. We've projected turnover growth by 20-25% at group level from the previous level," Javier Garcia del Valle stated.