The Mediterranean remains the most popular destination for summer vacations, said CEO Sebastian Ebel when presenting the quarterly figures in Hanover on Wednesday. After being rescued by the state in the Corona crisis, TUI has now repaid all the money. For the current financial year up to the end of September, the Management Board expects an adjusted operating profit (adjusted EBIT) of almost one billion euros – even if the fires on Rhodes slowed down business somewhat in July.
The news was greeted with strong ups and downs on the London Stock Exchange. After the TUI share had increased by more than four percent in the morning, it went down by up to five percent a few hours later. At the end of trading, the paper was still 3.35 percent down at 562.00 pence.
“We had and have a consistently good level of bookings,” said Ebel in a video conference. This also applies to the coming winter. The manager reported that customer uncertainty about the great heat and forest fires slowed down the development of bookings for about three weeks.
According to its own statements, TUI had brought around 8,000 guests to safety because of the fire on the island of Rhodes and temporarily suspended further arrivals. About half stayed in other hotels on the island at their own request, and the group brought the other half back home, some on extra flights. The whole thing cost TUI around 25 million euros, said Ebel – because of compensation payments, repatriation flights, replacement accommodation and booking failures.
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The TUI boss said that 90 percent of the island was not affected by the fire at all. Rhodes is an important travel destination for the tour operator: according to the board, this island accounts for five percent of the TUI summer programme.
Despite the temporarily weaker booking figures, TUI has so far had around 12.5 million customers across the group for the entire summer. This means that bookings are only five percent lower than in 2019, the summer before the corona pandemic. Compared to summer 2022, summer bookings are six percent higher. Customers spend an average of seven percent more on their trips.
Despite all the problems, Ebel even sees opportunities for the travel business in the consequences of climate change. “I have no doubts that the seasons will even out, which is good for us.” In addition, travel destinations such as Portugal, Belgium or Holland could become more important, which offers additional growth potential.
During the pandemic, TUI had received billions in aid from the German state. For the first time since this crisis, the group achieved an operating profit before special effects (adjusted EBIT) of 169 million euros in the months of April to June. In addition to more bookings, higher prices also contributed to this. Compared to the same period last year, sales rose by 19 percent to 5.3 billion euros. All in all, the TUI shareholders made a profit of almost 23 million euros.
In the current fiscal year (until the end of September), the adjusted operating profit should again clearly exceed the previous year’s figure of 409 million euros. Analysts surveyed by the Bloomberg news agency assume an average of around 970 million euros. TUI CFO Mathias Kiep says he feels comfortable with this estimate.
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HANNOVER (dpa-AFX)
Image source: TUI, Dafinchi / Shutterstock.com