News

Wirtualna Polska acquires Hungary-based Szallas Group

Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A., the owner of Poland’s highly popular websites and a leading provider of online travel and tourism services in Poland, is acquiring Portfolion Capital Partner’s investment, Szallas Group. Szallas operates the largest domestic travel portals in CEE enabling visitors to book accommodation in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Croatia. Accordingly, Wirtualna Polska will build a group that will be a leading domestic travel booking services provider in Central and Eastern Europe. The deal is valued at EUR 72 million, plus the company’s net cash, which is estimated around EUR 10 million as at the transaction closing date, making a total value of EUR 82 million for the acquisition.

Szallas Group had its first CEE Tourism Trends Webinar

Szallas Group, Google, Previo and D-EDGE have held their first joint webinar about the future possibilities and challenges of tourism in the CEE region.

Vote for us – International Travel Awards 2022

Vote for us – International Travel Awards, Best Online Travel Company 2022

The growth potential of Central and Eastern Europe’s tourism sector

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is home for 20% of the European Union’s population and has a GDP per capita growth rate almost double that of the EU average.
CEE countries have already reached a level of average wealth that makes holiday travel accessible for most, as 60% of the population travels at least once a year. Considering that about 80% of that travel is domestic or regional, due to historical and financial reasons, it can be considered a rather closed market.
COVID has only magnified these trends, making the CEE domestic tourism industry one of the highest growing segments of European tourism.

Szallas Group, a leading domestic online travel agency in the region, recently published its comprehensive report about the CEE region. CEO József Szigetvári explains the purpose of the report and the potential for travel and tourism in the CEE region.