After a significant recovery in summer business, the world's largest travel group expects booking numbers in winter to be similar to those before the corona pandemic.
Overall, bookings for the summer program currently stand at 12,9 million, equivalent to 1,4 million new bookings since the last update in August, said outgoing TUI boss Fritz Joussen. The number of bookings is currently 91 percent of the level in summer 2019. Sales are even better, as average prices are 18 percent higher than in 2019, according to Joussen. Around 5,3 million guests started their TUI holiday in the main summer months of July and August, twice as many as in July and August of the previous year, when the number was 2,6 million. Bookings in this period would have reached 94 percent of the level of summer 2019.
Around a quarter of the winter program is currently sold and bookings correspond to 78 percent of the booking status for winter 2018/19. The average prices are currently 26 percent above the level of winter 2018/19. As in the summer, the travel company is once again recording a trend towards a higher proportion of short-term bookings for the winter. According to Joussen, this will probably continue – also with cruises.
For the 2022 financial year, the CEO wants to return to a “significantly positive adjusted EBIT” in the operating result before interest and taxes. Work is in progress to ensure that this is also above the 2019 value, he added. The new CEO Sebsatian Ebel wants to present really valid figures for the 2021/22 financial year on December 14, as reported by Reisevor9.de.