[Why&Next] "Flag Tours Are Over"... Top Travel Agency Transforms into Investment Company

HanaTour Invests in Six Companies Including WAUG and PPT Tour Over Past Five Months
Shifting Focus from Package Tours to Platforms and Content Businesses
Establishes Investment Corporation Targeting Southeast Asia and Builds Local Networks
IMM Officially Initiates Sale in 2024, Yet to Close the Deal After Two Years

HanaTour has recently been expanding its external reach through a series of equity investments. As its core package tour business has contracted, the company has turned its attention to travel platforms and content companies. This move is interpreted as an ‘exit strategy’ by IMM Private Equity (IMM PE), the private equity fund (PEF) manager that acquired HanaTour.

According to industry sources on March 18, HanaTour has established investment and partnership relationships with six companies over the past five months since November last year. Just this month, the company made strategic investments in activity platform WAUG and theme travel company PPT Tour, becoming the second-largest shareholder in both. Previously, in November last year, HanaTour invested in travel content company Clto and signed a strategic partnership with Japan’s major travel agency H.I.S. at the same time. These investment targets are largely unrelated to its existing package tour business. The strategy appears to focus on securing new revenue streams in content, platforms, and overseas networks.

The company is also pursuing overseas markets. HanaTour established a joint venture with Philippine travel agency ABOEX and built a partnership with Nepal’s Chaudhary Group. These efforts are aimed at securing local networks in Southeast Asia and emerging markets. The plan is to extend the operational model developed in Korea to foreign markets in search of new growth drivers.

Southeast Asia Expansion Centered on Investment Corporation

These investments and partnerships are being carried out mainly through the investment corporation established in Singapore last year. HanaTour set up “HANATOUR GLOBAL INVESTMENT PTE. LTD” in Singapore and invested 5 million Singapore dollars (about 5.8 billion won). This corporation is structured as a holding company for investment and equity management rather than for selling travel products, and it is a wholly owned subsidiary with HanaTour holding a 100% stake.

According to the Singapore Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Misun Song, CEO of HanaTour, serves as a registered director of this company. In addition, Director Jaeik Son, who heads the Singapore office, is also listed as a registered director. This structure enables the headquarters to set strategies while local management executes them. It is assessed as more of a forward base for actual business expansion than a corporation established solely for investment purposes.

The company plans to use this corporation to identify local companies and expand partnerships through equity investment or joint ventures, while developing new products and content based on these relationships. HanaTour is also pushing its “global bound” strategy, moving beyond the traditional outbound-focused model to encompass inbound and cross-border travel demand. The aim is not only to send travelers abroad but also to attract foreign tourists to Korea and connect travel demand between countries.

Growth Limitations Despite Performance Recovery... Domestic Package Market Saturation

The reason HanaTour is transforming into an investment company is due to the limitations of its existing business model. Growth potential is limited under a package tour-centered structure, and the rapid rise in the proportion of fully independent traveler (FIT) demand in the travel market has also played a role. The company appears to have determined that it is difficult to respond to these changing consumption patterns using its traditional methods.

HanaTour’s business foundation was shaken by significant losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, recording operating losses of 114.8 billion won in 2020 and 127.2 billion won in 2021. The company returned to profitability with 34 billion won in operating profit in 2023, followed by 50.9 billion won in 2024 and 57.6 billion won last year, showing continued recovery.

However, sales have not yet fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels. In particular, last year’s sales were 586.9 billion won, representing a decline from the previous year’s 616.6 billion won. The company’s sales, which exceeded 800 billion won in 2018, plummeted to the 40 billion won range in 2021 due to border closures during the pandemic, and have since shown a steady recovery, though this has recently stalled. This is interpreted as a result of focusing on profitability improvement rather than external growth. In other words, the company has shifted its focus from increasing scale to enhancing profitability.

HanaTour’s position in the domestic market remains solid. According to Korea Tourism Data Lab, HanaTour’s market share based on outbound travelers increased from 12.19% in 2023 to 14.24% in 2024 and 14.84% in 2025. Despite weakening demand for package tours, the company has maintained its position as the industry leader. While it retains market dominance, the difficulty in achieving further growth is seen as a factor driving its expanded investments and overseas expansion.

Full-Scale Corporate Restructuring... Boosting Corporate Value Ahead of Sale

Industry observers see HanaTour’s moves as a full-fledged attempt to break away from its traditional package travel agency model. The company is expanding direct sales through mobile platforms, shifting away from its former agency-centric model, increasing the share of premium products, and seeking new revenue streams through collaborations with external companies.

The travel industry is characterized by high demand volatility due to economic cycles, exchange rates, and international affairs, which is another variable. As simple performance recovery alone is insufficient to secure a high corporate value, the company is responding by fundamentally changing its business model.

This process is believed to be influenced by IMM Private Equity, the largest shareholder. After acquiring management rights to HanaTour in 2020, IMM normalized the company through restructuring and financial improvements, and in 2024 officially began the process of selling its stake by selecting Citi Global Markets Securities as the sale manager. However, no transaction has been completed to date.

The largest shareholder of HanaTour is Harmonia No. 1 LLC, a special purpose company (SPC) established by IMM Private Equity, which holds a 17.28% stake. Including related parties such as Chairman Park Sanghwan and Vice Chairman Kwon Heeseok, the largest shareholder group holds approximately 28.7% in total. The National Pension Service is also a major shareholder with around 8.7% ownership.

The market sees the difficulty in realizing high corporate value under a package tour-centered business structure as a key reason for the delayed sale. Therefore, it is analyzed that HanaTour is simultaneously working to raise its corporate value by expanding investments, partnerships, and strengthening overseas business.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.