The tourism group gives travelers hope for a relaxed summer holiday despite the chaos in airport handling.
"Despite all the challenges due to staff shortages in the industry, the holidays will go smoothly for the vast majority," said the travel group's Germany boss, Stefan Baumert. Unlike some airlines such as Lufthansa, the group's own airline Tuifly does not want to cancel any flights. The flight schedule will remain the same, as will plans for additional reserve aircraft at peak times. It is often worthwhile changing airports when starting your holiday from a federal state where the holidays have not yet begun, recommended Baumert.
According to the manager, demand for summer travel has increased significantly in recent weeks and is "consistently above the 2019 level". "We are catching up rapidly and are more than confident that we will see summer business this year that will come close to 2019," Baumert confirmed earlier expectations. Bookings for the months of September and October have also been increasing strongly in recent days.
Tui could not determine that people were holding back on bookings because of problems with processing at airports. There was also no evidence that customers with the so-called flex tariffs were increasingly using the option to rebook or cancel free of charge up to 15 days before departure. "They all want to go on holiday," said Baumert. "But we are seeing record numbers of calls to our customer hotlines."
After more than two years of the Corona pandemic, classic travel destinations are particularly in demand, especially around the Mediterranean, especially Turkey. Antalya has moved up to second place behind Mallorca. Demand for Greece also continues to be strong. "Crete is heading for a record season," reported Baumert. Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt are also currently seeing strong growth. For car trips, the focus is primarily on the German Baltic coast and the northern Italian lakes.