Eurolines Group, controlled by Romanian entrepreneur Dragos Anastasiu, will sell its tourism services – tour-operator, retail, business travel and incoming – to DER Touristik Group, part of the German group Rewe.
Eurolines’ tourism services are currently operated through three distinct companies, Touring Europabus, Danubius Travel and Nova Travel. The transaction, signed by the two groups in Romania and also approved by the Competition Council, is to materialise this autumn.
Eurolines’ tour-operator, retail, business travel and incoming activities will be transferred to Travel Brands, currently owned by Eurolines. After the transfer, Travel Brands will be taken over by Exim Holdings AS based in Prague, which is part of DER Touristik Group.
All Eurolines employees and offices will be maintained. The Travel Brands firm will sell both the products of DER Touristik Group (Dertour, ITS, Meiers Weltreisen, Jahn Reisen, ITS, Billa Reisen etc.), and also the services of the other 45 German and Romanian travel agencies, as well as plane and coach tickets.
Both parties decided to keep the value of the transaction confidential.
DER Touristik Group is one of the largest tourism operators in Europe. Based in Germany, the Group owns 30 companies with over 10,000 employees in 15 countries, amassing a turnover of EUR 6.7 billion, generated by about 9.9 million tourists on an annual basis. DER Touristik has been present in Romania, through Dertour Romania, since 2004.
DER Touristik is part of the larger Rewe Group, which also comprises the discount retailer Penny Market.
Eurolines Romania has 80 agencies, under such brands as TUI TravelCenter, Travel Brands and Eurolines, posting an annual sales figure of around EUR 150 million. Eurolines Romania was founded by Dragos Anastasiu in 1995, currently having over 650 employees and the largest distribution of tourism products in the country, four franchise agencies in Germany, a fleet of 150 coaches and 800 vehicles.
In 2015, Eurolines has taken over the Green Village tourist compound in Sfântu Gheorghe, in the Danube Delta.