German tourism giant TUI expects busy summer after pandemic hit
The world's largest tourism operator TUI reported another big loss in the last quarter but passenger numbers recovered significantly from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic - and demand is growing, the German group said Tuesday.
"The path out of the pandemic is becoming increasingly clear. Demand for travel is high across all markets," TUI CEO Fritz Joussen said in a statement.
Between October and December "more than four times as many guests travelled with TUI" as in the same period the year before, with the total climbing to around 2.3 million, the group said.
"Only at the end of November and in December was there a short-term dampener due to the Omicron variant," the tourism operator said.
TUI expects traveller numbers to sit at the lower end of its bracket of "60 to 80 percent of pre-pandemic capacities" for the European winter season, which runs either side of the New Year.
Spain (particularly Mallorca), Italy, Turkey, Austria and Greece are among the most popular destinations for Germans.
Looking forward, the group sees a "very strong booking dynamic for summer 2022".
READ ALSO: The new rules for entering Germany with the EU Covid pass
Hotels, cruises and chartered flights - the core of TUI's business - were severely impacted by the pandemic crisis.
In TUI's last financial year, which runs from October to September, the group had a net loss of €2.48 billion ($2.83 billion).
The group was in the red again in its first quarter of the new financial year, losing €384.3 million between October and December - but more than halving its net loss from the same period in the previous year.
TUI is in the midst of a vast restructuring project undertaken in the first half of 2020 to tackle the pandemic, including getting rid of 8,000 jobs worldwide.
"All measures of the efficiency programme launched in 2020 have already been implemented," the group said.
READ ALSO: Germany's TUI predicts 'significantly better' summer
What's the picture on tourism in Germany?
Restrictions to combat the Covid pandemic have hit German tourism hard.
Despite a significant increase in overnight stays in November 2021, for instance, the balance for the first eleven months of 2021 was worse than in the comparable period in 2020.
From January to November 2021 (the latest available data), hotels, guesthouses, campsites and the like recorded a total of 293 million overnight stays, the Federal Statistical Office said last month.
That was 0.9 percent less than in the same period last year. Due to the pandemic, some federal states had bans on overnight stays for travellers until June 2021.
In 2020, by contrast, only about two months - mid-March to mid-May - were affected by these kinds of bans in the first half of the year.
In November 2021, overnight accommodation in Germany recorded a significant increase with 24.6 million overnight stays by guests from home and abroad.
This was 165.5 per cent more than in November 2020, when a ban on overnight stays for private travellers applied. Compared to November of the pre-crisis year 2019, overnight stays were 24.2 per cent lower.
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"The path out of the pandemic is becoming increasingly clear. Demand for travel is high across all markets," TUI CEO Fritz Joussen said in a statement.
Between October and December "more than four times as many guests travelled with TUI" as in the same period the year before, with the total climbing to around 2.3 million, the group said.
"Only at the end of November and in December was there a short-term dampener due to the Omicron variant," the tourism operator said.
TUI expects traveller numbers to sit at the lower end of its bracket of "60 to 80 percent of pre-pandemic capacities" for the European winter season, which runs either side of the New Year.
Spain (particularly Mallorca), Italy, Turkey, Austria and Greece are among the most popular destinations for Germans.
Looking forward, the group sees a "very strong booking dynamic for summer 2022".
READ ALSO: The new rules for entering Germany with the EU Covid pass
Hotels, cruises and chartered flights - the core of TUI's business - were severely impacted by the pandemic crisis.
In TUI's last financial year, which runs from October to September, the group had a net loss of €2.48 billion ($2.83 billion).
The group was in the red again in its first quarter of the new financial year, losing €384.3 million between October and December - but more than halving its net loss from the same period in the previous year.
TUI is in the midst of a vast restructuring project undertaken in the first half of 2020 to tackle the pandemic, including getting rid of 8,000 jobs worldwide.
"All measures of the efficiency programme launched in 2020 have already been implemented," the group said.
READ ALSO: Germany's TUI predicts 'significantly better' summer
What's the picture on tourism in Germany?
Restrictions to combat the Covid pandemic have hit German tourism hard.
Despite a significant increase in overnight stays in November 2021, for instance, the balance for the first eleven months of 2021 was worse than in the comparable period in 2020.
From January to November 2021 (the latest available data), hotels, guesthouses, campsites and the like recorded a total of 293 million overnight stays, the Federal Statistical Office said last month.
That was 0.9 percent less than in the same period last year. Due to the pandemic, some federal states had bans on overnight stays for travellers until June 2021.
In 2020, by contrast, only about two months - mid-March to mid-May - were affected by these kinds of bans in the first half of the year.
In November 2021, overnight accommodation in Germany recorded a significant increase with 24.6 million overnight stays by guests from home and abroad.
This was 165.5 per cent more than in November 2020, when a ban on overnight stays for private travellers applied. Compared to November of the pre-crisis year 2019, overnight stays were 24.2 per cent lower.
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