Rainbow Tours records very good year; plans investment in Romania (CEO interview)

"This is another very good year for the tourism industry and for Rainbow Tours. We will not see an increase of more than 20 percent year on year in the number of customers this year, as we did in the previous two years, but rather 6-10 percent, depending on the season," CEO Szczechura told the interview with PAP Biznes.

"The dynamics will not be as high, growth has normalised. However, everything indicates that in terms of margins and results, it will still be a very good year, probably the second or third best in history. We assume that the group's sales will grow at a high single-digit rate this year," he added.

The CEO continued that Rainbow Tours expects to send a record number of customers on holiday in 2025.

"Last year, it was 805,000 customers, and this year, depending on how the end of the year looks, the increase may be around 10 percent," he pointed out.

According to estimates, the Rainbow Tours group's consolidated revenues in the period from January to the end of June 2025 amounted to almost PLN 1.86 billion (EUR 436.2 mln), which represents an increase of approximately 12.6 percent year on year.

"It looks like the third quarter will be very good. Since the beginning of July, there has been a marked acceleration in both customer demand and margins. Competition has limited programmes somewhat, as the industry initially offered programmes that were 15-20 percent higher year on year, i.e. with similar dynamics as in recent years," the CEO pointed out.

"We made reductions earlier, back in March. Our programme for winter 2024/25 was higher by several percent year on year, and for this year's summer season by 8 percent year on year. As for the coming winter, the plan is higher by about 15 percent," he added.

At the beginning of August, Rainbow Tours completed the purchase of a 70 percent stake in the Romanian travel agency Paralela 45 Turism. The price was EUR 8.1 million.

"If Rainbow Tours is to continue growing, it must also consider expanding abroad and developing tour operator services for foreign customers, because the Polish market will eventually become saturated," said Maciej Szczechura.

When asked about the group's planned investments, the CEO said that investments in the Romanian company may amount to PLN 15-20 million (EUR 3.5-4.7 mln) next year, while the expansion of the hotel in Rhodes, Greece, will probably cost around EUR 10 million.

"We have no problem financing the investments, we have had a few good years, and we have the funds, even while remaining a dividend-paying company," Szczechura stressed.

For 2024, Rainbow Tours paid dividends of PLN 160.07 million (EUR 37.5 mln) total, which translated into a dividend of PLN 11 (EUR 2.58) per share.

"We will definitely want to pay a dividend for 2025. No decision has been made as to whether we will pay an interim payment earlier. If so, it will be after the third quarter," the group's CEO told PAP Biznes.

Rainbow Tours has an approved share buyback programme, but, as the CEO stressed, this is just in case it is needed, e.g. to exchange shares as part of an investment.

Since the beginning of this year, Rainbow Tours' share price on the Warsaw Stock Exchange has risen by over 20 percent. Over two years, the shares have risen in price by over 300 percent.

"The increase in Rainbow Tours' share price in recent years reflects how the company has grown in terms of results," CEO Maciej Szczechura concluded.

pel/ ao/ nl/