UK summer flight bookings edging towards 2019 levels

SUMMER holiday bookings at TUI were approaching pre-Covid levels on pent-up demand, the world's largest holiday company said on Tuesday (8), with a steady recovery in Britain since restrictions and testing rules were lifted.

TUI, which runs hotels, airlines, cruises and travel agencies, said 3.5 million customers had booked a trip for summer 2022, as of January 30, around 72 per cent of the levels seen in the same period in 2019. But new bookings matched pre-crisis levels, it said.

Eastern Eye reported last month that there was a rise in holiday bookings to the subcontinent.

TUI chief executive Fritz Joussen said in a media call 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.

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 per cent, TUI said, despite having offered discounts and promotions to lure in customers.

TUI said underlying operating loss in the first quarter ending December was at 274 million euros ($313 million).

TUI, which has been bailed out multiple times by the German government and taken more than 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion) in state loans and raised equity to ride out the crisis, said it would hand back about 0.7 billion euros in state aid by April.