TUI: Bookings to Greece See Improvement in Recent Weeks

TUI Group reports robust results despite Tunisia tragedy

TUI, the parent company of travel agents Thomson and First Choice Travel, said on Thursday that bookings to Greece have been recovering in recent weeks.

According to the travel company’s third quarter results statement, cumulative Group-wide summer bookings to Greece remain ahead of prior year despite some temporary small deviations in source markets Germany and Belgium in late June and the first half of July.

“This demonstrates the resilience and strength of the Group’s integrated business model, even in periods of crisis”, TUI said.

However, Greece’s recent political and economic turmoil and the Tunisia terrorist attack in June are expected to impact TUI’s earnings by some £20 million ($31.2 million) this year.

The Tunisia attack in June claimed the lives of 38 holidaymakers including 30 TUI customers while most of those injured were also clients. “Supporting our customers, their families and our colleagues through this sad time remains our highest priority”, Fritz Joussen and Peter Long, Joint CEOs of the TUI Group, said.

“The development of the events in Tunisia, however, also demonstrates the resilience, robustness and flexibility of our integrated business model and our new Group structure. We are able to accelerate our Group’s growth through the successful integration and consistent implementation of our strategy. We are therefore confident that we will deliver underlying EBITA growth at 12.5 to 15 percent for the full financial year – hence, the upper end of the previously announced target range of 10 to 15 percent.”