Romanian online tour operator increases business fourfold on regional expansion

Romanian tour operator Paravion increased its business 2.7 times last year, to EUR 46 million, thus becoming the largest local online travel agency, according to its own estimates. In 2014, the company’s revenues had gone up by 40% to EUR 17.3 million. The growth rate accelerated last year, as the operator expanded its operations in other markets in the region, reaching as far as Turkey. “With a turnover of EUR 46 million, 400,000 Paravion users in 2015 and 115 million searches made by our clients, we have become the largest online travel agency in the country and one of the top three in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Remus Visan, managing director Paravion. Paravion expanded in several markets in Southeastern Europe, in the beginning of 2015, and bought the Turkish booking portal Bavul.com. The company also increased its sales in Bulgaria, Hungary, Cyprus, Great Britain, and Spain. However, two-thirds (67%) of its turnover was generated by clients in Romania. Plane tickets remained the main growth engine for the travel agency, representing 85% of its sales, but recent trends have shown an increase in holiday sales. Turkey was the second biggest market in terms of ticket sales and the company expects a substantial growth in holiday sales in this market. Paravion, which started as an online spinoff of Happy Tour, one of the biggest tour operators in Romania, started developing as an independent online agency in 2014. The company is owned by Spanish investment fund GED, which also owns Happy Tour. “We have benefited from investments from GED, which allowed us to upgrade our platform and become competitive on all online plane ticket sales channels. We have also diversified our products and services in the core markets and managed to increase city-break and charter holiday packages,” said Remus Visan. For 2016, the tour operator targets a turnover of EUR 60 million. Romanian online tour operator enters Turkey via acquisition, targets higher revenues this year Private equity company GED buys Paravion.ro Coolest summer job ever: Romanian tour operator hires holiday traveler Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com