Yellow Balloon Tour

Yellow Balloon Tour was founded in 2001 to run general travel brokerage and airline ticket sales, later diversifying through the establishment of a Japanese subsidiary and stakes in Yellow Balloon City Bus and Wishbin.

The company now operates package-tour and airline-ticket sales alongside city-bus tourism and a travel-information platform business under an integrated travel-agency model. It aims to differentiate customer experience through CRM, strengthen digital competitiveness via AI and IT, and expand its global business.

Travel brokerage (package tours) accounts for the largest share of revenue, followed by airline ticket sales; both segments have recently seen revenue decline amid softer travel demand, even as cost cuts helped improve operating profit or loss.

Its Japanese subsidiary, YBJ, focuses on developing content for individual travelers and cutting costs through local infrastructure contracts, while marketing cooperation with the Wishbin travel-information platform is another growth avenue.

On the product side, the company has partnered with a European destination-management company to strengthen long-haul packages such as Eastern Europe, while also emphasizing generation-tailored product design.

In the domestic integrated travel-agency market, it competes with traditional agencies such as Hana Tour and Modetour, as well as with online travel platforms such as Yeogi Eottae and Nol Universe on price and product.

Consolidated revenue in 2025 was KRW 119.7 billion, down from KRW 131.9 billion in 2024, but operating profit swung from a loss of KRW 6.5 billion in 2024 to a profit of KRW 2.2 billion in 2025 (an operating margin of 1.9%).

Net income attributable to owners, however, remained negative for a second straight year at KRW -2.8 billion in 2025 following KRW -4.7 billion in 2024, showing a gap between the improving operating line and a still-loss-making bottom line.

This compares with 2023, when revenue reached KRW 98.6 billion with an operating profit of KRW 6.6 billion (a 6.7% margin) and owners' net income of KRW 5.9 billion—a clear profit that the 2024-2025 recovery has yet to match.

In 2022, revenue fell to just KRW 22.0 billion with an operating loss of KRW 20.9 billion and an owners' net loss of KRW 24.1 billion, reflecting the depth of the pandemic aftermath.

On a quarterly basis, revenue was KRW 24.4 billion with an operating loss of KRW 0.04 billion and a net loss of KRW 1.5 billion in the second quarter of 2025; in the third quarter, revenue edged up to KRW 25.0 billion yet the operating loss widened to KRW 2.2 billion and the net loss grew to KRW 2.7 billion.

Revenue then jumped to KRW 38.9 billion in the fourth quarter, delivering an operating profit of KRW 4.1 billion and net income of KRW 1.4 billion, and the company sustained profitability for three consecutive quarters through the first quarter of 2026 (revenue KRW 29.6 billion, operating profit KRW 2.4 billion, net income KRW 2.0 billion) and the second quarter of 2026 (revenue KRW 19.3 billion, operating profit KRW 0.8 billion, net income KRW 0.5 billion).

The company attributed the improvement to adjusting product and airline supply to booking conditions and pursuing cost efficiency amid softer travel demand caused by geopolitical instability in the Middle East, fuel-surcharge hikes, and weaker consumer sentiment.

As a result, the trailing four quarters through the second quarter of 2026 combined for revenue of KRW 112.8 billion, operating profit of KRW 5.1 billion, and owners' net income of KRW 1.2 billion, indicating the profit recovery has continued on an annualized basis as well.

The domestic travel industry views 2026 as a year of gradual growth and structural transition rather than a sharp rebound, with a broadly shared industry view that recovering flight supply and the spread of experience-focused consumption will support a recovery in outbound demand.

Still, a high exchange rate, elevated prices, and geopolitical risk remain persistent variables, prompting travel agencies to respond with generation-tailored products and more finely segmented themed trips.

International fuel surcharges surged to level 33 in May amid an oil-price spike tied to Middle East instability, then fell for three straight months to level 19 by August, before renewed conflict in the Middle East raised the prospect of a September re-hike, with one securities firm projecting the surcharge would rise back to level 20 in September.

Separately, the won-dollar exchange rate fell to the 1,300-won range in August for the first time in eleven months, raising hopes—together with lower fuel surcharges—for a recovery in bookings on long-haul routes to the United States and Europe.

That said, high exchange-rate pressure has not fully dissipated, and some observers note that even as airfares ease, dollar-linked local costs such as hotels and meals do not necessarily fall in tandem.

On the competitive front, second-quarter 2026 results diverged sharply: Hana Tour's operating profit fell 43% year over year and Modetour swung to an operating loss, while Yellow Balloon Tour turned profitable.

Meanwhile, in contrast to softer outbound demand, inbound foreign tourist arrivals to Korea have been rising to record levels, and the travel industry is increasingly treating inbound tourism as a new growth driver and competing more actively to attract such visitors.

Yellow Balloon Tour said it plans to keep flexibly managing product and airline supply in line with market demand through the second half, expanding sales channels and pursuing cost efficiency to sustain profitability improvement.

Based on its analysis of bookings for July-August departures, the company said reservations rose 61.2% from the prior period after news of lower fuel surcharges spread, with the recovery concentrated in short-haul destinations led by Japan (up 174.5%), Vietnam (73.4%), and China (62.5%).

For September, it plans to focus on long-haul products timed to the Chuseok holiday, strengthening premium, no-tip, no-optional-tour, no-shopping lineups for Western Europe grand tours and the U.S. West Coast to match holiday schedules that can stretch up to nine days with added leave.

In October it is preparing products aimed at the Gaecheonjeol and Hangeul Day holidays, and for winter it has secured Boracay-route seats with T'way Air through October 21 as part of resort-destination supply.

However, with the prospect of a September re-hike in international fuel surcharges under discussion, travel agencies including Yellow Balloon Tour are engaging in discount competition to capture pre-hike ticketing demand, and industry participants expect third-quarter results across the sector to hinge on August-September sales performance.

Some also note that long-haul routes may recover more slowly than short-haul ones given lingering geopolitical risk and currency-cost burdens.