Skift Take
Early bookings for the summer period ahead are picking up, with $4 billion in first-quarter revenues giving the TUI executive team confidence in its so-called dynamic product strategy to recover market share in some markets and grow it significantly in others.
TUI's winter bookings might have been lackluster, but early summer bookings for the world's largest tour operator have picked up, as the company plans to focus on giving more flexibility to travelers in booking flights, hotels and activities individually, in addition to its wholesale packaged tours, to grow its customer base in underrepresented markets.
This is according to Sebastian Ebel, chairman and CEO of the TUI Group executive board, who delivered the company's 2023 first quarter interim results update on Tuesday.
The first quarter saw 3.3 million customers, compared with 2.3 million in the previous 2022 period, while early bookings for 2023 winter and summer seasons sit at 8.7 million. Ebel said this shows its customer base's appetite remains largely unaffected by the global inflationary conditions.
The company is seeing a 6 percent increase in pricing for its summer offerings, considerably lower than the 29 percent seen in its winter offering.
"The 6 percent would not be enough to cover the price increases," Ebel said, "but they would be very close to it. And what we have seen in the last weeks gives us the confidence that prices have become even stronger tha