Saturday, January 02, 2021
"Many flights are booked out quickly"
Tui boss expects travel boom in summer
The tourism industry is more affected by the Corona restrictions than almost any other. But according to Tui boss Joussen, the crisis could be followed by a boom. Among other things, the group wants to send its cruise fleet back to sea at full strength.
Europe's largest tourism group, Tui, expects the travel market, which collapsed during the Corona crisis, to pick up strongly this year. "We expect a largely normal summer," said Tui CEO Fritz Joussen of the Düsseldorf "Rheinische Post". However, they will "only offer around 80 percent as many flights as in the years before the Corona crisis in order to achieve optimal utilization". During the holidays in July and August, it is likely that many flights on routes in the Mediterranean region are quickly booked out. The offer for May is 50 percent booked out.
The company offered most trips at the same prices as in 2020 and 2019, but vacationers would spend more on travel. "Customers book higher quality. Many have additional room for maneuver in their budget and choose a 5-star hotel instead of a 4-star hotel," said Joussen. One reason is that vouchers for trips canceled in 2020 are redeemed. "All of our market research shows that there is an enormous desire on the part of people to be able to travel again after this difficult Corona period."
Joussen even reckons that the current vaccinations will make all travel restrictions unnecessary: "If we have protected the most vulnerable groups from infection, the restrictions can fall sharply overall." Travel restrictions would then no longer be proportionate. The international travel business collapsed dramatically in 2020. Tui had to be saved from bankruptcy with government aid amounting to several billion euros.
The Tui boss announced that all 16 cruise ships in the group would be reinstated. The most important destinations in the summer would be Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal. He also expects high demand for domestic destinations with a car. Not until 2022 is it expected that the tourism industry will recover to the level of the record year 2019, and 2021 will be a year of transition solely because of an expected still weak first half of the year.
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