These companies are still benefiting from the pandemic effect. 7 giants

Already in March, almost two-thirds of Poles declared that they would go on holiday this year. This is 9% more than a year earlier. The percentage of Poles planning to go on holiday has returned to the pre-COVID-19 level. This is the result of the latest CBOS survey, which examines Poles’ holiday plans year after year.

In fact, no matter what holiday survey you look at, you can see that Poles are hungry for holidays away from home. This year, 40% of Poles will go on a foreign holiday – according to a study by the Visa card operator. 43% of Poles will choose a holiday in the country, and 39% abroad – says the Holiday Barometer 2024 conducted by IPSOS.

Interest in holidays is at a record high. Owners of the largest travel agencies continue to talk about the continuing effects of the pandemic. But in a positive sense. In other words, Poles still want to compensate for the lockdowns, when, locked in their homes for months, they didn’t even think about any holidays.

Lower costs, higher profits

“This year’s holidays will be more expensive – both per person and per family. Average spending will amount to PLN 1,734 per person, which means a 7% increase compared to 2023 – then it was PLN 1,614. Family holiday budgets amount to almost PLN 4,500”

– says Przemysław Barbrich from the Polish Bank Association.

According to Traveldata, the revenues of the largest travel agencies operating in Poland jumped by 40% in a year to almost PLN 17 billion. The number of clients increased by one third to almost 4.5 million people.

Although prices of trips have risen slightly over the past year, costs for tour operators have not skyrocketed. Prices for aviation fuel have remained low. The złoty has had a stable position with the dollar and euro. These low costs, combined with price increases for the trips themselves, have led to record profits for the largest travel agencies.

Three of them

When compiling our ranking, we used data for 2022, which was not yet a record year. We could not base it on 2023 results, because financial reports are still not available for all companies. The research agency Dun&Bradstreet helped us with this ranking.

The first place was taken by the Polish branch of TUI – the world’s largest tourism concern. The company has over 100 years of history and two headquarters – in Berlin and Hanover. Last year, its global revenues exceeded EUR 20 billion. This is twice as much as PKO BP, the largest Polish bank, had in 2023. TUI has been operating in Poland since 1997. It employs half a thousand people. And it sells trips through 112 of its own travel agencies.

Second place belongs to Nowa Itaka. This is the largest Polish travel agency based in Opole. The company belongs to Mariusz Jańczuk and Leszek Szagdaj, who are regular heroes of our List of 100 Richest Poles. They started with car tourism, organizing trips for Poles to buy used cars from Holland. Later, they were the first in Poland to sell trips to sunny Italy. The Polish market was still developing, but foreign competition had already appeared. A Swedish company from a similar industry became interested in Itaka. After months of negotiations, the gentlemen decided to sell the business. However, shortly afterwards, the Swedes decided to leave Poland. Szagdaj and Jańczuk returned to the game and bought back their company for a fraction of what they had earned from its sale. Today, their Itaka offers holidays in several hundred places around the world.

The last place on the podium was taken by Rainbow Tours, which is currently valued at PLN 1.7 billion by the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Over the past year, the share price of the Polish tour operator has increased by over 200 percent. The company has been scoring record after record. This year, it also came first in the Polish Cheetahs, our list of the fastest growing Polish companies.

This is just more evidence that tourism companies are currently enjoying their best time on the Vistula. Who else made it onto our list?

Leaders in the tourism industry