Travel agency H.I.S. Co. said Friday its operating profit rose 2 percent to 1.85 billion yen during the six months through April, led by growth in overseas travel.
Sales increased 14 percent to 131.15 billion, yen helped by strong growth in travel to Asian destinations, including South Korea and China.
For H.I.S., the region saw 21 percent year-on-year growth in both sales and customer traffic.
Company officials explained that profit growth was smaller than sales growth due to intense market competition, which drove down profit margins.
During the period, the firm said it saw negative effects from the anti-Japanese demonstrations that took place in China in April and the tsunami disaster that hit Thai resorts in December. It said its customer traffic to Phuket moved below last year's level.
Meanwhile, the officials said they are seeing brisk bookings for North America and Europe in August and September.