Happy Tour travel agency, the leading player on the local tourist market, posted a 20% increase in turnover in the first six months of this year against the same period in 2005, to 17.5 million euros. "Outgoing travel, as well as event organising (conferences, seminars or team building) have seen a significant growth. Ticketing services (the sale of airplane tickets) also saw a major rise," stated Nicolae Demetriade, chairman of the company. He estimates the agency will close 2006 with a turnover worth 35m euros, an approximately 13% increase against 2005. Demetriade says 21m euros will come from ticketing and 14m from the travel segment.
However, in terms of holiday packages in Romania, Happy Tour has a very limited supply. "Domestic service packages have an insignificant share in our activity as a whole. We are not yet fully convinced that we can provide such services at a high standard of quality and within an acceptable price range," explains the Happy Tours representative. A significant part of operators, as well as tourists are complaining about non-satisfactory services in local tourism, particularly at the seaside.
"We prefer to wait awhile before providing these services (packages in Romania), because we don't want to lose our clients. Those who don't realise that in Romania as well, the only ones who will survive are those who provide quality services, which require significant investment, are in for a big surprise," says Demetriade. He also says that this year, more complex packages are in demand, for destinations comparable with those of last year.
"Even though the same destinations are in demand - Palma de Majorca, Tenerife, Rhodes, Crete, Antalya or Italy, the hotel standard is at least a four-star one," Demetriade says. The company operates charters for these destinations. The charter system means that one or several travel agencies make an advance payment for a number of seats in a flight, train or a bus to transport operators. The agency that has booked these seats must pay for them even if it does not resell them to tourists. This system has been very popular locally in the last few years, with the Romanian tourists choosing charters for destinations such as Turkey, Greece, Spain or Italy. As a rule, charters target clients with an average and above the average income.
Romanians however have also started to look for unconventional holidays. "Cruises are very much in demand, as Romanians have realised it is a full travel product, and tariffs are extremely competitive," explains Demetriade. He has recently announced his intention to adopt a joint policy with two of the top five players on the Romanian market, Aerotravel and Marshal Tourism.
Happy Tour
The biggest travel agency in Romania
Made 14m euros from the travel segment
17.5 million euro turnover in the first six months, up 20% from the first six months of 2005
Expects business in 2006 to reach 35 million euros, an increase of 13% from 2005
Derived 21m euros from its ticketing operation (aeroplane ticket sales)
Domestic packages account for very little in its total business
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