OUR HISTORY
In 1840, the first page on the history of the Abreu Travel Agency was written. The protagonist was Bernardo Luis Vieira de Abreu, born in Rossas, Vieira do Minho. Taking as a reference the emigrants leaving the north of Portugal and Galicia and going to Brazil, Bernardo de Abreu established himself in Rua do Loureiro in the city of Porto that year. The first travel agency in the world to open customer service offices was born there. Soon, Agência Abreu gained relevance as a very diligent service provider in its different competencies, initially involving the processing of passports and emigration visas, along with selling train tickets to Lisbon and tickets for ships going to South America. Over the years, the available destinations expanded to Africa, North America and Europe.
In the 1950s, the portfolio of products and services was enhanced with European Tours and Group Travel – still predominant in the Abreu Agency’s programming.
With references to freight forwarding to Brazil and Africa as early as 1895, it was in 1957 that the company’s activity got in the Cargo sector, which currently assumes a key role within the scope of the Abreu Group, as important as the Leisure Travel and Business Travel scope, along with the Groups, Conferences and Incentives areas.
In 1960, the company moved to Avenida dos Aliados, opening a new cycle for the Company, largely determined by the unstoppable brilliance of commercial aviation.
Still in the 1960s, the Company began selling cruises, increasing in the following decades with full chartering of ships for trips along the Brazilian coast, to the Azores, Madeira, Continental Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The Company thus contributed to the strengthening of the cruise industry, which opened new perspectives to world tourism, a business segment where the Abreu Agency also asserts its expertise and unique experience, becoming the market leader until today.
The following decades saw the expansion of the retail chain throughout the country. Their own tour operator was launched, for product creation, distribution and management (pioneer) of charter flight operations in Portugal, Spain and Brazil. All this reflects the remarkable growth of the tourism industry and the democratization of travel, now within reach of thousands of people through the competitive offer of the Abreu Agency.
The times that followed brought to light the sustained business growth and the expansion of the Company’s presence in Portugal and in the world.
In 2003, the Portuguese were invited to “discover” Mundo Abreu, today the largest travel fair in Europe exclusively aimed at the public, with the presence of institutional organizations and providers of national and foreign tourist services from the five continents, and which every year brings for thousands of people, a great opportunity to travel. In 2014 Expo Abreu is launched, the 1st winter travel market organized in Portugal.
The new millennium is one of investment in the Portuguese-speaking triangle Portugal-Brazil-Angola and in the deepening of relations with other markets on the American continent. New offices appeared in the United States and England. Investments also extended to state-of-the-art technologies, internal and external communication, new media and the interpretation of a model of society increasingly guided by the rules and trends of the digital economy. And this is tangible in all areas of competence: starting with the Operator, which is in product creation and programming for Portugal, Angola, Brazil and other Latin American markets; in the store chain and via internet; in the corporate area, serving corporate and institutional clients; through Abreu Online, hotel reservation system and other terrestrial services, worldwide, for professional clients from all over the world; through the Groups area; or via Abreu DMC – PCO, a business unit specialized in organizing events, product launches, corporate incentives and conferences.
In 2015, Agência Abreu is the largest travel organization operating in the Portuguese market, with 150 stores (all of them own) – the largest network nationwide. It organizes leisure and business trips worldwide, as well as events for travellers from all over the globe.
The market’s recognition and trust result from the unsurpassed capacity for innovation and performance of a global universe with 1,500 employees and the selection of the best partners in the field of tourism and travel.
175 years later, as a globalized company, the Abreu Agency continues to keep its roots intact, by having as owners the direct descendants of the founder and by electing the client as its true shareholder.