In view of the increasing corona numbers and great travel uncertainty, the world's largest travel company is massively reducing its capacities for the winter. There is some hope for summer 2021. Bookings are currently well above this year's level. Nevertheless, the group is sounding out financial aid.
Due to the poor demand, the tour operator Tui is thinning out its offer for winter 2020/21. The world's largest tourism group announced that capacities had recently been reduced by a further fifth to 40 percent. "This reflects the persistent uncertainty surrounding travel restrictions."
The bookings for the winter program were 59 percent below the level of the previous year due to the Corona crisis, while the average price rose by three percent. The market environment is prone to fluctuations, said Tui boss Fritz Joussen. "This is likely to continue in the coming quarters."
Because of the virus pandemic, Tui is already dependent on government aid of around three billion euros. In addition, "options for realizing an optimal balance sheet structure and for the long-term development of the company" are being explored, the management explained. According to insiders, Tui wants to ask the shareholders to pay in order to strengthen the financial cushion in the corona crisis. In the coming weeks, the company is planning a capital increase between 700 million and one billion euros. Because of the tense situation, state participation in Tui is also an option.
In the summer of 2021, the travel group wants to offer 80 percent of its originally planned capacity again. The bookings were 84 percent above the business of the current year, which had slumped massively because of the travel warnings. "Bookings for the 2020 summer program are currently 83 percent below the previous year, while average prices have fallen by 19 percent." This corresponds to a booking status of 15 percent of the original travel program. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the course of the pandemic, Tui expects that customers will continue to decide on a vacation at short notice.