Dertour bought the tourism business of Eurolines
German travel agency Dertour, part of the Rewe giant, known especially for its retail operations such as the Penny Market stores, which are also present in Romania, bought Travel Brands, the company that groups together the tour-operator, retail, business travel and incoming travel operations of Eurolines. The German group took over the business from Dragos Anastasiu.
Blue Air plans to turn to stock market
Blue Air, the largest privately held Romanian airline, wants to raise money from the stock market by listing EUR50 million to EUR60 million bonds, an offering that could start next fall. This move could be followed by the listing on the stock market, the company said. Blue Air is held by Teodor Cristian Rada, 90% and German logistics group Zeitfracht, 10%. Blue Air ended financial 2019 with EUR390 million (not including passenger taxes under IFRS).
The group including Christian Tour got TUI franchise
The Pandel family, which owns the Memento tourism group and the Christian Tour agency, will also operate the TUI TravelCenter brand in Romania, following an agreement with the TUI brand.
The company will be operated as a franchise under the TUI TravelCenter brand, will have its own offices, separate from Christian Tour’s, dedicated website, a sales and management team of its own. TUI Group, the largest travel group worldwide will open tens of agencies throughout Romania and tourists will have access to its products.
No Tourism Ministry again
There new government does not include a Tourism Ministry, just an office part of the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment. The position of state secretary in charge of tourism went to Razvan Pirjol, who has more than 20 years of experience in the travel industry. He is chairman of the Tourism Board and once ran the Palatul Suter hotel in Bucharest.
Tarom stays in the red
Flag carrier airline Tarom will end the year with more than 180 million lei losses, as it paid EUR900,000 to get nine ATR aircraft based on a memorandum without a contract signed, said transport minister Lucian Bode. It posted RON66.3 million (EUR14 million) net loss in the first half, 2.5% higher than in the first half of 2018. Tarom’s losses in 2008-2018 stand at more than RON1.7 billion, ZF has calculated.
More and more investments in hotels
The year 2019 came with more hotel openings, either investment from scratch or affiliation and renovation of old facilities. The Orbis group opened several hotels mainly under the ibis and Mercure brand, a Hilton Garden Inn in Otopeni opened under the Hilton brand, and Marriott brand saw a Courtyard by Marriott open in Floreasca. Investments continue so new openings were announced. Some of the recently opened hotels, such as the Hilton Garden Inn in Bucharest’s Old Town, held by Lithuania’s Apex Alliance, are now up for sale.
Danubius continues investment in Sovata
Hungary’s Danubius hotel chain, which owns three hotels in the spa town of Sovata, estimates investments in the Faget Hotel, which will improve in rating from two to three stars and change its name to Ensana Health Spa Hotel, will amount to more than EUR8 million. The group decided to put all its spa hotels in Europe under the Ensana brand. The renovation project started in September 2018 and will be completed next spring, with the hotel set to have 144 rooms, its own treatment center and spa.
Radu Enache announced plans to drop Accor deal
Radu Enache, the entrepreneur who owns the Continental hotel chain, announced he would drop the contract with the Accor international chain at the end of next year. Therefore, the four ibis hotels (two in Bucharest, one in Sibiu and one in Constanta), which number 760 rooms together, will switch to the Continental brand. Radu Enache is the first entrepreneur to have signed a management contract with Accor in Bucharest.
Owners of Radisson Blu hotel in Bucharest contributed RON200 million to hotel’s capital
Nemo Investment Vehicle, the company investment funds Revetas and Cerberus used to buy the Radisson Blu Hotel, got a RON200 million capital inflow from the Netherlands. This the highest capital increase in June. Revetas and Cerberus paid some EUR170 milion for the Radisson Blu Hotel in downtown Bucharest on Calea Victoriei at the end of 2017.
Passenger traffic on airports headed towards 23 million people
The number of passengers on the country’s airports rose 6.9% in the first nine months, according to ACI Europe, which represents more than 500 airports in 45 countries in Europe. This is almost double the European growth rate. Passenger traffic on Romania’s 17 airports reached 21.8 million in 2018 and ZF’s estimates point to an increase to more than 23 million passengers this year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)