Discount travel agency H.I.S. Co. said Monday that its managing director, Yoshio Suzuki, will succeed founder Hideo Sawada as president.

Sawada, 53, will become chairman and drop his representative position, company officials said. Suzuki's promotion is effective Tuesday, they said.

The move is intended to rejuvenate the company, Sawada said in a statement.

Sawada set up the firm in 1980, and it has since grown into one of the nation's major travel agencies. Suzuki, 50, joined H.I.S. in 1981.