The largest European tourism group sees “a lot of catching up to do” in terms of holidays.
TUI cuts 8,000 jobs after losses
The largest European tourism group TUI expects a “largely normal summer” despite the corona crisis in travel. However, TUI will only offer around 80 percent as many flights as in previous years in order to achieve optimal utilization, said CEO Fritz Joussen of the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday edition).
During the summer vacation it is therefore likely “that the jets on some routes in the Mediterranean region are quickly booked up”.
According to Joussen, many customers are spending more on travel in the beginning of the year. One reason is that vouchers for trips canceled in 2020 are redeemed. In addition, there is “a lot of catching up to do”: “All of our market research shows that there is an enormous desire on the part of people to be able to make nice trips again after this difficult Corona period.”
Hope for vaccination
In his own words, the TUI boss reckons that the corona vaccinations that have started will soon make travel restrictions unnecessary: “If we have protected the particularly vulnerable groups from infection, the restrictions can fall sharply overall.” According to Joussen, TUI wants to use all 16 of the Group's cruise ships again this year.
Not until 2022 is it expected that the tourism industry will recover to the level of the previous record year 2019, and 2021 will be “a year of transition” just because the first half of the year is still to be expected.
But he is certain that the vacation business will recover significantly faster than the general travel business including business appointments: “Video conferences continue to replace many a conversation, but a vacation experience cannot be replaced digitally.”
