The Panorama Holiday Group is one of the leading tour operators in the Republic and is estimated to have between 15 and 20 per cent of a rapidly growing market.
The company is part of a group operating here and in the UK and is owned by a UK parent company, Airtours plc. Panorama has operated here for about eight years and employs 50 people.
It specialises in package holidays to short-haul destinations such as Lanzarote, Ibiza, Majorca, Gran Canaria and Tunisia, and expects to carry 80,000 customers this summer. Its products are sold via travel agents and it has no direct retail outlets.
During the winter months it sells skiing holidays in France, Spain, Andorra and Italy. It also runs a brand aimed at younger holidaymakers travelling to Ibiza, called Club 25.
The company has expanded significantly in recent years as the Irish market has grown from about 250,000 package summer holidays six years ago to more than 700,000 this summer. The Irish operation is profitable, according to the company, but the financial results of its operations here are not published separately from those of the Panorama Holiday Group in the UK.
The two main tour operators in the Republic are Budget and Falcon/JWT, which between them are thought to control up to 70 per cent of the market. Panorama and Sunworld are the next biggest. Panorama uses other airlines besides Futura, and Futura is used by other Irish operators selling package holidays in Spain.
