Monday 22 November 2021
Desire for higher quality travel
Tui: Normality returns in summer
He expects a summer to travel almost at pre-crisis level. The bookings also showed that vacationers are willing to book more expensive accommodations and often want to travel with close relatives, it is said. The Hanoverians are also somewhat relaxed about the winter.
The travel company Tui is counting on a recovery in business in 2022, almost like it was in the times before the corona pandemic. “We are optimistic that next year tourism can almost level off at the level of 2019”, said Germany boss Stefan Baumert at the presentation of the summer program 2022. “We will experience a travel summer in which normality will return.” Bookings are picking up, but they are shorter than before. The temporary lockdown in Austria currently affects the winter and ski business, but not the main bookings after mid-November. A swan song for the winter sports business in the important Austrian market is too early and wrong.
He could not rule out that the example of Austria was a role model for other countries, but he currently does not expect it to be the case across the board, explained Baumert. Customers could also switch to other holiday regions. Tui offers around 2000 accommodations in 70 ski areas and 28 countries. In the Alpine republic, a nationwide lockdown has been in effect for everyone since the beginning of the week – vaccinated and unvaccinated.
For the winter as a whole, Manager Baumert was confident, since, unlike a year ago, vacationers could now return to almost all of Tui’s destinations. The capacity of the Group’s own airline Tuifly will almost reach the level of before the virus pandemic for November and December. The most popular long-haul travel destinations are the Maldives, the Dominican Republic, the United Arab Emirates and the USA. There will also be some catching up to do with travel in the coming year – here too, especially for holidays away from home.
“Mallorca is clearly in first place”
Overall, holiday favorites will again be the eastern and western Mediterranean, according to Tui. Destinations that are important for the industry, such as the Balearic Islands, Greece and Turkey, are currently showing the highest bookings. “Mallorca is clearly in first place”, emphasized Baumert.
It also shows that vacationers are planning higher-quality trips. Suites and pool rooms are currently booked first. “People are willing to spend up to a quarter more on their vacation.” There is also a trend towards multi-generational travel. Apparently families who had not seen relatives for a long time during the Corona period wanted to go on vacation together, said Baumert. Villas and large suites are very well booked.
Overall, Tui is significantly more optimistic than the German Travel Association (DRV). According to the DRV survey, 60 percent of companies do not expect a business recovery at pre-crisis level until 2023, a third not even until 2024.
The German state supported Tui with 4.3 billion euros because travel collapsed during the pandemic. The Hanoverians want to repay part of this with a 1.1 billion euro capital increase.