Travel group TUI benefits from extra bookings for the summer holidays. That’s because travel restrictions were relaxed in large parts of Europe as the number of corona infections fell. However, TUI still suffered a significant loss.
“Especially in Germany and the rest of continental Europe, the booking figures show that there is a lot of pent-up demand that is being caught up,” says TUI CEO Fritz Joussen. “Travels from England could not be resumed until July. The increase in the number of bookings will therefore only be visible in the next quarter.”
Since the last quarterly update, approximately 1.5 million trips have been reserved. In total, 4.2 million holidays have been booked at TUI for this summer. The group has reduced the capacity for the summer of 2021. Due to the continuing impact of travel restrictions, that capacity is 60 percent compared to 2019. In May, 75 percent was still taken into account.
The most popular destinations are the Spanish archipelago of the Balearics, including Mallorca and Ibiza. A lot has also been booked to the Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes.
TUI’s turnover rose to 650 million euros in the third quarter of its broken financial year, compared to 72 million euros in the same period last year. However, at the time, the company was unable to sell any vacations due to travel restrictions. As a result, TUI recorded a loss of 940 million euros in the past quarter.
At the beginning of last year, TUI received loans from the German government and investors to survive the corona crisis. The travel group is the largest tour operator globally and has airlines, hotels and cruise ships.