Ticketing may boost Eurolines turnover to 30m euros

The Eurolines group, which comprises approximately 16 companies with different activities – ranging from international passenger transportation to air ticketing and sales of travel packages, has budgeted a turnover worth 30 million euros for this year, up by 20% against last year.
“The recent years have been unpredictable because our activity was affected by political decisions, but as of this year we will se a return to normality,” said Dragos Anastasiu, general manager and one of the shareholders of the Eurolines group.
The company closed last year with a turnover worth 25 million euros, although it had originally budgeted a turnover worth 27 million euros. Although the company failed to reach its target, Eurolines’ main activities such as the road transportation of passengers and ticketing have witnessed a growth.
“Ticketing was an area in which we witnessed a higher growth last year compared with 2005,” said Anastasiu.
Air ticket sales have increased by 50%, accounting for 6.3 million euros of the company’s total turnover. At the turn of last year, the road transportation of passengers accounted for 48% of the turnover the company received. “We transported 130,000 passengers on international routes last year, which is a 24% rise against 2005,” said Anastasiu.
On the other hand, the average occupancy rate amounted to 75% last year, up by 1.5% compared with the figures for 2005.
The third activity that contributed to the total turnover was the sales of travel packages. In this sector, according to Eurolines representatives, the company derived turnover worth 4.5 million euros last year.
Eurolines expects to witness growth both on passenger transportation and on the sale of tickets this year.
“The road transportation market will see some decline because it will be affected by increasingly fiercer competition coming from the low-cost companies, as well as from the other companies that operate in this field. We estimate we will se a 26% surge in the number of passengers,” said Anastasiu.