In 2005, a medium-sized agency acquired Tiriac Travel, part of the group owned by Ion Tiriac. Last year, the same agency attracted a Danish investment fund, which is in search of acquisitions to gain the second or third position on the business travel market.
"When we entered the market in 1998 it appeared to be that the market leader at that time, Marshal Turism, was unbeatable," says Florin Tancu, manager of ING Development, a travel company that operates under the Alto Tours brand.
Tancu means the chances the group he runs has of becoming one of the top three travel agencies. The current number one is Happy Tours, an agency that its founder Nicolae Demetriade sold last year to Spanish investment fund GED.
At present, the group run by Tancu is divided in two: his agency, Alto Tours, in which he holds the majority stake, and the Romanian office of Weco Invest A/S, the Danish group that bought 25% in Alto Tours last year, which is its only operation in Romania. Weco targets growth in Romania primarily through the acquisition of the majority stake in Alto Tours.
"We are in talks to sell a further 49% in the agency and a final decision will be made in several months," says Tancu. In parallel, he acts as Weco's representative in Romania and is looking for other agencies to buy, particularly medium or small agencies that operate on the business travel segment.
Was it worth buying Tiriac Travel? Tancu firmly believes so: in 2006, Alto Tours' turnover was in excess of 7m euros (from 3.8m in 2005), while net income stood at 270,000 euros, an increase that would have been hard to achieve organically.
Tancu believes the travel market has started to follow an irreversible trend towards maturity.
Another group that arrived in Romania and remains active on the market is GED Capital Fund II, which acquired Happy Tour in 2007. GED's manage
