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Interview News Touroperators

Martin Paschinger, Executive Director of Premio Travel: I transformed my passion for travelling into my profession.

Hello, Mr. Paschinger! We met during our trip in India. I was very pleasantly impressed by your wish to inspect the tour that you offer to your clients, and then to discuss, at the end of the day, all details with travel agents from Europe – partners of yours – in order to perfect it? Is each tour inspected?

Yes, it was very pleasant to meet you in India, and to travel together in the Golden Triangle in Rajasthan. You know, it is not just me – we have a team that manages the products, consisting of three individuals. In the end, each one of our tourist products is inspected and examined by someone in the unit or by me personally. In this case, it was important for me to join the trip for the financing, as I wanted to learn more about the partners and the travel agencies, and also to get feedback from them. But this is also the rule in our company – to see the products, to get a feel for them. An example for this is the fact that I always advise the people in my team never to book a hotel where they themselves would not stay, and I truly believe that this helps us a lot.

I would like to take you further back in time, to let you tell us about yourself. Where did you grow up and what were your vacations like, when you were a child? Did you dream about traveling and rediscovering the world, at that time?

My father used to travel a lot for work purposes, when I was a child. This is why, when we would go on a vacation, he preferred that we travel by car. We travelled a lot from Vienna, where I was born, to Italy, around the provinces of Austria, on excursions or to the sea. But this happened very rarely with an airplane, because my father used to fly very often and each time, when he was leaving, he would take me to the airport in Vienna at the observation deck. And then… [brief pause] I was thrilled to watch all small airplanes with tail fins or even the big ones from the Austrian airlines, and it impressed me very much, when they would start making noise. I was only five and a half, six years old. When I would go to visit my grandfather, I would always receive a few Austrian schillings, small change. Once, I got all my money together, went to my father, and told him: Listen, you are flying so often, that’s why I saved some money, here you are, and next time you are taking me with you!. Of course, he laughed, because the money was not even close to the amount for one plane ticket, but he was impressed. He encouraged me by adding up to the necessary amount and that’s how I flew for the first time. This was the moment when it seemed like I got addicted to flying wherever… to be at some other place. I really enjoyed it, and I think that this is one of the reasons for me to get into this industry.

When and how did you decide to embark on Premio Travel? How does the company fare on the world map of tourism today, and what are your results so far?

My getting into the tourist business happened by accident, when I met my current partner in the company. Initially, I had my own company, which was specialized in the field of marketing. Even while I was living in Vienna, the company would operate in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary. I already had an approach to the Eastern European markets, which is why, when I met my business partner in Premio Travel – we just met by accident and conversed, he had experience in tourism, and I had left the field of marketing with knowledge in Eastern European markets – we planned rapidly. I will explain my reasoning with one personal example. One of the most important factors was that each time when I would go to Bratislava, only 45 minutes away from Vienna, the very same tourist product, which means the same hotel, for example in Turkey, with the same airplane flight from the airport in Vienna, would be much more expensive in the travel agencies in Slovakia, than in Austria. I would always ask myself why this is so, taking into consideration that incomes in Slovakia at that time were much lower than those in Austria. Which is why, when I would talk with my business partner and we would analyze the market, we would say to ourselves – yes, definitely the way tourist products are distributed is not as well-organized – as it is now, and this was our chance. And so, we founded our first company, which happened a bit more than 15 years ago. Now we operate in 14 Eastern European countries under two brands names. One of them is Premio, as it is in Bulgaria, and the other one is Nikal Travel, and their development is quite good and this makes me happy. This is also the case because of our amazing teams on different markets, and I think that we have the potential to grow even more, not only within the markets themselves through the diversification of the products, the product lines, etc., but also with the fact that we continue planning on setting foot in new markets in the near future.

In 2024 year, you opened up a new office in Bulgaria. How has Bulgaria developed in recent years, in your eyes?

Yes, to me Bulgaria is simultaneously a success story and a love story. From all our active markets, Bulgaria is our youngest one, but here we may grow in the quickest fashion, which in my opinion is due to several reasons. In the first place, of course, when you have been active on so many other markets, you already have experience in what you are doing, and in how to do it right when you are entering a new market. Also, being lucky to have an amazing team, because from my perspective, in Bulgaria there are splendid educated people, a workforce which is very good. So, in this regard, we were successful. Besides, the market is ready for higher-quality products, but at reasonable prices. People appreciate this type of products and remain loyal clients afterwards. I think that these things contributed partially to our success in Bulgaria from the very first moment.

Opening a new office in the central part of Sofia, which is easier and more accessible for our clients, was just the next logical step, because we value direct communication with our clients. They provide the best feedback, which we may learn from and which we may take into consideration when developing a future strategy, and maybe also new products, and so on. Therefore, this was the logical continuation for us, and I think that this was the right decision.

   Another positive development on the Bulgarian market was that in politics, the European Union directive on the protection of clients’ money that have been paid to the operators began to be applied. I know that not all colleagues in the industry will agree with me, but from personal experience I can say that we instantaneously noticed very good results on our other active markets, where, with the exception of Bulgaria and Romania, this directive is already applied. As a tour operator, this costs you means and liquidity, which should be secured for the client’s protection. On the other hand, I can say that, for example, in Estonia, where this directive is much, much strictly applied, clients feel extremely secure when booking vacations through a tour operator, who must ensure many more guarantees, compared to a client who is operating individually, when he, for example, is booking flights or a hotel, and is responsible on his own for the consequences. As I said, clients in Estonia pay immediately, because they know that their money is safe. The same holds true for other countries. If we have to be fair to ourselves, I think that we need precisely the clients’ trust in us, as tour operators. This is why we are here, and this is precisely why I think that tour operators will never disappear entirely, even in this highly digitalized world, because we care. And as we are talking about this, I am convinced that we are doing ourselves a favor, because, with the client’s trust, and, of course, with an appropriate information campaign on the Bulgarian market, this will boost up the industry even more.

What are Bulgarian tourists like? Are they prepared for their travels? Do they help you, when new products are being created?

Comparing them with tourists from other countries, Bulgarians are definitely some of the most well-prepared clients that we have. They are prepared in several ways. Especially with regard to cultural trips, they learn basic things in advance about the destination and the attractions that they are going to visit.

When I would sometimes join Bulgarian groups, I would see that all of them are carrying informational booklets about the destinations. I highly value this, because in such cases, we or our guide may focus on more serious or even more intriguing information, making the trip genuinely unique.

I would like to also say that the expectations of Bulgarian tourists are very high. They are particularly demanding with regard to the food, which is not surprising, because I would be this way too, if I was living in Bulgaria, consuming such delicious food. And, of course, wherever they go, they bring with them their high demands.

   With regard to the last part of the question – yes, our Bulgarian clients help us a lot in further developing our products, because, as I said when I mentioned the office in Sofia, etc., we value direct communication. Naturally, we receive a good amount of feedback from our clients. Every feedback is important for us, to make our existing products even more superb, but also to receive information on future trends. Especially when the client says: Listen, I have been here, here and here, but I think that these three countries have not been included.

Do you plan on something like this? There is an old saying, which states that if we want to change the world, we need to get to know it. Is this achievable today and what is your advice on this?

When we start hearing things like this more frequently, this is a good indicator for us that we have to introduce a new product to our portfolio. With regard to the old saying, we have the same one in German, my native language, and I completely agree with it. It is true. It has always been so. When I was young, I travelled for the first time to Southeast Asia, and I saw that life there is completely different – this changed my point of view significantly, because as a young person, born and raised in Austria, I immediately appreciated how much easier our life is, and that we may grow up here, in Europe, in a much better environment. This is why I think the saying is true, and that it is still relevant in this century.

   I would like to say that we have to travel now. This is definitely the most important thing and I am not saying this only because I work in this industry. This is also my personal priority, because watching the news every day, some corners of the world in the near future will become more and more inaccessible for visits. Especially in the active times of environmental protection we must do something for our climate. I think it will become increasingly expensive and not as easy to travel from one end of the world to the other end. This is why my personal advice, which I personally adhere to also, is to create a list of the destinations that you definitely want to visit in your lifetime, and to start making it come true.

Travelling will never be as cheap as it is now, perhaps also because of the global conflicts. I am talking about the Middle East, I have Israel and Gaza in mind, maybe also Iran, etc. We never know when some part of the world will cease to be accessible.

What are your most successful tours and what are the new destinations in Premio Travel’s portfolio for 2025 going to be?

For us, the development in some niche destinations in the past year was very interesting and very important. The most successful destinations for us are definitely in Italy. Also, in terms of volume, we could realize an enormous growth on the Italian market and its various regions. Italy is such a diverse country, with various places to visit. We grow there almost twofold every year. I believe that this trend will continue in 2025 as well, when we are going to add new Italian regions to our portfolio, which we tried for the first time in the fall, such as Apulia, but also Sicily.

 Besides, I am very proud that we became very quickly the largest tour operator for destinations in China not just in Bulgaria, but also throughout Eastern Europe. After the coronavirus, here we developed very successfully. We even had to plan by ourselves the cruises on the Yangtze River. Otherwise, we would not have been able to achieve this. But this is due also to our very good cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism of China, with whom we work in close co-operation.

   Last but not least, the United States is also a great success for Premio Travel, which as trips are not in such a large volume, but, as we know, it is not the cheapest destination. Especially with regard to markets such as Bulgaria, where the visa impediment still exists, I think the numbers are quite impressive.

 Last, but not least, number two, sorry, but I forgot about them a bit ago. Of course, this is the United Arab Emirates, which is one of the destinations that we have been focusing on ever since the beginning, so to speak. There, we diversified with many more products, and we operate all-year-round. This is also the destination that I think Bulgarians dream of visiting not just once in their lifetime, and they are also more open in terms of entering deeper into the country. This respectively leads to results for us, because besides tours in Dubai, including Burj Khalifa, The Palm, The Miracle Garden, etc., we see growing demand towards the remaining emirates. Combinations with Ras Al Khaim, with Abu Dhabi, and even with Oman, which are becoming more and more frequent. I think that all of this will continue in 2025, too.

You give people the chance to rediscover the world with quality and inspected affordable tours. You also have the thirst to travel, treating this not just as a business activity, but also as a source of inspiration and positive emotions. At the end, I would like to ask you what are the destinations that you would like to visit?

Yes, this is really true. I transformed my passion for travelling into my profession. I like travelling. My wife and I love getting to know the world, but I get satisfaction also from seeing how with this passion of ours we achieve something for our clients, too. So, I always blend these two things. This is also the reason why I have visited and seen most, no, actually all the destinations that we offer. I have been to many places around the world, and I can honestly say that I do not have a favorite one. Everything depends on the mood and on the specific time of the year and so on, when I really feel well. But I can say that I feel deep connection with Asia in the Far East. Life there is very spectacular, it is different from any other place. And, also South America, which is one of the destinations that I started travelling to at a later stage of my life, but I love it now even more. That is why my desire for the future is to travel more frequently to South America, to more of its hidden corners. One of my plans for next year is definitely to go to Ushuaia and to the South Pole, which is a bit unusual indeed. But I feel deeply impressed by Argentina, because it is a country with a tropical climate in the north, and a very harsh climate in the south, with its Andean landscape, and its incredible vineyards, taking into consideration that I am an Austrian and I am married to an Italian. Wine is very important and I hope to get the opportunity to look around there more.

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