The Christian Tour travel agency recorded sales of over 120 million EUR in 2019 and sent over 400,000 tourists on vacation. Last year, Christian Tour was the agency that sold the most vacations in the history of domestic tourism. For this year, it had budgeted sales of 150 million EUR.
The pandemic brought Cristian Pandel, the owner of the agency, from sales of 1 million EUR/day in the second half of March to zero sales, catching him with advances collected from 150,000 tourists and investments made in an airline and a TUI franchise.
In the hardest of his 23 years in business, during which he was forced to let go of a quarter of his employees and closed 20% of the offices, he was saved by the more than 80,000 tourists who, starting in June, overcame their fears and chose to go on vacation.
At the beginning of February, just before the pandemic, the companies in the tourism group owned by Pandel were consolidated into a holding company, Christian Tour Group, with a large share capital for the tourism market of over 30 million EUR. Pandel specified that, until the lockdown, he had collected around 5 million EUR as advances from customers, money he used, along with equity funds and credit lines, to pay massive advances to hotels to secure prices and vacation availability.
Also at the beginning of the year, he founded Animawings, an airline specializing in charters, where he attracted the Greek company Aegean Airlines as an investor with a 25% stake.
In parallel, he managed to bring back the TUI franchise to Romania, the world’s largest tourism operator, which had exited the Romanian market after Dragoș Anastasiu sold his chain of travel agencies operating under the TUI brand to Dertour. Pandel had created, together with TUI Group, a development plan to open 40 offices over the next 3 years and had already begun operations.
At the beginning of the year, Christian Tour had 56 offices and, across the entire group in Romania alone, around 300 employees.
In March, practically, the Romanian state closed tourism businesses, closed borders, closed malls and headquarters, and the businessman believes all these decisions were made without a coherent plan or strategic communication.
He started creating different scenarios and reduction plans in stages to avoid exposing the group of companies. He renegotiated all contracts, rents, utilities, etc., reduced budgets to a minimum, rescheduled vacations, and negotiated with hotels and partners so that the advances paid by tourists for travel during the restriction period would be secured as advances for the future, ensuring tourists did not lose their money.
During this entire interval, Pandel lost over a quarter of his team and closed 20% of the offices. While in the first two weeks of March, Christian Tour normally sold 1 million EUR per day, and in April 1 million EUR once every two days, this spring, in the second half of March and in April and May, sales were zero.
In July, when Romanian agencies—among the last in Europe—received approval to operate the first vacation destinations, Christian Tour was the first company to start flights to Greece and coaches to the Bulgarian seaside. Even tourists who had not booked vacations flocked to the agencies for packages to Greece; however, after the Greek authorities required Covid-19 tests, demand dropped by 75%.
At the beginning of August, flight operations also started to Antalya, the most popular destination for Romanian tourists, and towards the end of August to Egypt.
Since July, when it restarted charters, Christian Tour has had about 120 flights in eight weeks. Over 80,000 tourists traveled in 2020 in just two months with Cristian Pandel’s agency, the main destinations being Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Egypt, but also the Romanian seaside.
The businessman estimates that by the end of the year, when he draws the line, he will have sent a total of 120,000-130,000 Romanians on vacation, because another 20,000-30,000 who paid advances postponed their stays, intending to leave next year.
Even during the busiest periods this year, Christian Tour operated 18 charters per week, compared to 56 flights last year. Pandel estimates he will end this year with sales of 40 million EUR, roughly what Christian Tour had 10 years ago, and believes it will probably take 2-3 years to return to 2019 levels.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did the pandemic affect Christian Tour’s revenue?The agency saw its sales plummet from 1 million EUR per day in early March to zero during the lockdown months of April and May 2020.
What strategic moves did the company make just before the crisis?Christian Tour consolidated into a holding company with 30 million EUR in capital, launched the airline Animawings, and secured the TUI franchise for Romania.
How many tourists did the agency manage to send on vacation in 2020?Despite the restrictions, over 80,000 tourists traveled in the summer months, with an estimated total of 120,000-130,000 by the end of the year.