Largest online travel agency in Romania enters restructuring process

Paravion, the largest online travel agency in Romania, announced that it would start a restructuring process on Tuesday, August 8, amid instability in Turkey. The travel agency is also present in Turkey through the booking portal Bavul.com, which it took over from Turkcell in 2015. Bavul registered sales of EUR 23 million in 2016, but the socio-political context in Turkey and the devaluation of the Turkish lira dramatically affected the development of the investment and, implicitly, the Paravion business, the company said in a press release. “The first half of the year has confirmed the instability, making the situation in Turkey even more difficult. The sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira in the last quarter of 2016, of over 30%, resulted in a decline in international airline sales and profit margins in Turkey in 2017. Thus, it was decided to close Bavul and reorganize Paravion,” reads the statement. Paravion is the first online plane ticket booking platform in Romania. The website registered more than 175 million ticket searches in 2016, with an average of 20,000 searches per hour. The travel agency is controlled by Spanish investment fund GED Capital. Creator of Paravion tour operator launches new online travel portal in Romania Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com