Apollo Reiser, Norway’s third-largest package tour operator, has been put up for sale by its Swiss owner. More travelers now prefer organizing their own travel, reducing demand for the tour operators like Apollo that sell packages including flights, hotels and activities.
Newspaper Aftenposten reported that 1.1 million Norwegians traveled last year with package tour operators. The Norwegian market is dominated by Apollo’s rivals Ving and Star Tours but Apollo has logged profits over the past five years. It entered the Norwegian market in 1999 and has specialized in offering holiday packages to Greece.
With the advent of low-fare airlines, though, the charter branch in Norway has lost market share. Apollo’s results have thus been modest and Kuoni has opted to withdraw from the charter and package tour business around the world. Its operations in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland are up for sale, along with its charter airline Novair.
Apollo officials said, however, that operations will continue as usual and Norwegians who already have purchased summer holidays with Apollo won’t be affected. “There will simply be a new owner, and we hope the deal will close this year,” Peter Brun at Kuoni Travel Group told Aftenposten.
newsinenglish.no staff