TUI says pent-up demand for holidays to steer summer recovery

Summer holiday bookings at TUI were approaching pre-COVID levels on pent-up demand, the world’s largest holiday company said on Tuesday, with a steady recovery in Britain since restrictions and testing rules were lifted. TUI said underlying operating loss in Q1 ending December was at E274m. Citi analysts expect bigger-than-expected losses in the current quarter before a potential recovery, sending TUI shares 4% lower. The group, which runs hotels, airlines, cruises and travel agencies, said 3.5m TUI customers had booked a trip for summer 2022, as of Jan. 30, around 72% of the levels seen in the same period in 2019. But new bookings matched pre-crisis levels, it said. Bigger holiday budgets and demand for packages as well as additional services such as room or hotel upgrades boosted its average selling price, which is up 22%, it said, despite having offered discounts and promotions to lure in customers. TUI CE Fritz Joussen said the lifting of COVID testing rules in Britain had a positive impact on booking behaviour and that Britain was the most important market for TUI currently due to higher margin bookings. Long-haul travel was also looking more attractive, he added. While inflation was an issue, Joussen said there was no impact on bookings because households had built up savings in the pandemic.<br/>