Improved profits for tour operators

Limited companies in the travel agency, tourist office and tour operator sector improved their profitability from 1996 to 1997, reporting a 2.4 per cent increase on return on total assets. Capital strength and financing structure also improved.

The return on total assets for the industry as a whole rose 2.4 percentage points to 10.2 per cent in 1997. Higher operating profits had a strong impact on the improvement. Tour operators saw their return on total assets climb 11.4 percentage points to 13.4 per cent, turning an operating loss of NOK 8 million in 1996 into an operating profit of NOK 232.2 million in 1997. On the other hand, travel agencies saw their return on total assets drop from 9.3 per cent in 1996 to 8.0 per cent in 1997.
Improved return on equity
The total return on equity in the industry increased by 21.5 per cent in 1996 to 24.1 per cent in 1997. As for the return on total assets, improved operating profits were a contributing factor. Tour operators' return on equity increased from -6.4 to 29.8 per cent. On the other hand, travel agencies experienced a reversal, reducing their return on equity by 9.6 percentage points to 20.8 per cent. The main reason is probably the decline of about NOK 100 million in profits before extraordinary items.

New Statistics
Travel agencies, 1997. Account statistics.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Travel Statistics. For more information contact: Jakob.Kalko@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 95, or Tom.Granseth@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 06.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 12, 1999