TUI: Summer bookings increased by 4 percent, profit down 12.7 percent

The European travel and tourism group TUI Group reported on Thursday that its bookings for summer programs have increased year-on-year despite the extreme heat in Europe, which has led to a lack of short-term bookings, writes Guardian.

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TUI states that bookings for summer arrangements have increased by four percent compared to last year, with 86 percent of arrangements sold, in line with last year.

Spain has maintained its position as the most popular destination, but the growth in sales of summer arrangements year-on-year is also supported by Turkey, North Africa, and Greece, as well as smaller destinations such as Croatia, Bulgaria, and Cyprus.

This result is attributed to the fact that more clients booked their summer holidays in the first half of the year, which mitigated the impact of the exceptionally high temperatures over the past five to six weeks on the overall level of bookings.

“Tourist companies usually do not like it when it is very hot, and now it is really hot. People want to go on holiday when it rains,” said TUI CEO Fritz Joussen to reporters while presenting the group’s business results for the third fiscal quarter.

TUI reports that its underlying earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization (EBITA) in that period decreased by 12.7 percent to 193.4 million euros. Excluding currency exchange rate changes, it fell by 7.4 percent to 205.1 million euros.

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This tour operator typically earns the most in the last quarter of the fiscal year, and in the latest report, they highlight that in fiscal 2018, for the second consecutive year, they recorded a profit in the first nine months.

In the current report, they also confirmed the estimate that their annual underlying profit should increase by at least 10 percent when excluding currency exchange rate changes.