Tui losses narrow amid summer optimism

Travel company Tui has narrowed losses from €3.5bn to €2.4bn (£2.1bn) for the year to the end of September.

The group remains optimistic about next year’s summer, however, is concerned about rising cases and the Omicron variant.

“It is still too early to make a real forecast for the 2022 summer season,” said chief executive, Friedrich Joussen.

“But we are optimistic that tourism will be able to recover to 2019 levels next summer. We want to, we can and we will find our way back to economic strength.”

 “The increased media coverage of rising incident rates and the emergence of new Omicron variant has weakened this positive momentum, particularly for winter.”

“There will be flexibility in deciding whether to offer winter programme capacity at the lower end of the range depending on the so-called fourth corona wave and possible policy decisions with regard to the Omicron variant.”

The group had a 40% fall in revenues for the year to the end of September. Bookings for next summer have increased by 535,000 since its last update.

“The UK, which is typically the most advanced booked due to the earlier launch of its summer programme, is already 52% sold for May. At this early stage, we believe summer 22 volumes will recover close to normalised summer 19 levels, supported by the stronger starting position and a travel environment underpinned by the continued success of vaccinations.”

“It remains difficult to forecast the further course of the pandemic and its impact on customer behaviour. In view of the uncertain environment, the executive board believes it would not be appropriate to issue a specific forecast for the new financial year 2022 at this time.”