KUALA LUMPUR (March 26): ACE Market-bound Golden Destinations Group Bhd remains bullish on the travel business despite the ongoing Iran war, as it sees travel preferences shifting towards East Asia destinations.
Following the launch of its initial public offering (IPO) on the ACE Market on Thursday, its founder and managing director Mita Lim has maintained an optimistic outlook of the travel industry, noting that the company’s packages are largely focused on East Asia destinations.
East Asia is a major contributor to the company’s revenue, accounting for 60.4% of the company’s FY2025 revenue.
“Today, we are seeing travel preferences shift towards Asian countries, and Golden Destinations is well-positioned to respond to the demand given the breadth of our offering across Asia and our flexibility in adapting our travel portfolio,” said Lim, adding that European and Middle Eastern destinations only contributed 13% to the company’s revenue in FY2025.
Furthermore, the company said rising oil prices have had a limited impact on the pricing of its travel packages.
While fuel surcharges may affect FIT (free independent traveller) ticket sales, the impact is limited because the company focuses primarily on group tour packages where airline seats for these packages are secured under contractual agreements with airline partners.
“So, they have to honour our [agreement],” Golden Destinations chief operating officer Charles Lim said.
“But if we are talking about the FIT segment, [on] which we are not focusing a lot at the moment, then there’s an increase in prices,” he added.
Golden Destinations launched its ACE Market IPO, priced at 45 sen per share, on Thursday. It aims to raise RM135 million upon its listing on April 16.
Golden Destinations mainly operates within the business-to-business space, serving a network of licensed travel agents rather than selling its products and services directly to end-consumers.
The company curates travel and cruise packages distributed through a network of over 800 travel agents across Malaysia, as well as provides standalone travel support services such as flight ticketing services.