Romania's Paravion shuts Turkish business, blames security

BUCHAREST - 8 August 2017: Romania's oldest online travel agency Paravion.ro will undergo restructuring and shut its Turkish unit Bavul due to security issues in Turkey and currency depreciation, it said on Monday.

Paravion took over online tourism platform Bavul, which has about 300,000 users, from Turkish mobile operator Turkcell in 2015.

Bavul recorded 23 million euros ($27.16 million) in revenue last year "but due to the socio-political context in Turkey and the dramatic decline of the Turkish lira, the development of the investment was strongly affected and thus the Paravion business", Paravion said.

The sharp depreciation of the Turkish lira in the last quarter of 2016 had resulted in a 30 percent fall in international ticket sales and margins in Turkey this year, it said, and it had decided to close Bavul and reorganise Paravion.

Paravion, Romania's first flight booking platform, said the reorganisation would not affect customers' ability to book plane tickets, accommodation and buy holiday packages via the Romanian portal Paravion.ro.

On Tuesday, German holiday reviews and booking site Holidaycheck also said bookings for Turkey were having a turbulent time this year. Germany warned citizens last month to be careful when travelling there after recent detentions. ($1 = 0.8467 euros)