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LONDON (Reuters) -Holiday group TUI said on Tuesday it was seeing a positive travel recovery trend for the upcoming summer season as holidaymakers make plans to enjoy their breaks following a pandemic hiatus.
Many feared recessionary pressures could dampen demand for holidays, but results for airlines such as Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet (LON:EZJ) showed promising momentum and indicate that consumers are gearing up for their holidays.
The group, one of the world’s largest tour operators, said its first-quarter revenue reached 3.8 billion euros ($4 billion) on promising winter and summer bookings, while its group EBIT loss almost halved to 158.7 million euros from 274 million euros a year earlier.
Upcoming bookings for the 2023 winter and summer seasons hit 8.7 million.
“Our strategy is clear: quality, cost discipline and market share. New products, additional customers, and as a result, more market share and above-average growth are the basis for future increases in revenue and earnings,” TUI Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Ebel said in a statement.
RESILIENCE
European consumers are grappling with the highest levels of inflation in a generation, but to-date demand for holidays has proved resilient. Low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet all reported strong summer bookings earlier this year.
Revenue improved by 1.4 billion euros to 3.8 billion euros year-on-year, with a growth of around a million guests to 3.3 million from the previous quarter.
Demand in the past four weeks had also scaled over pre-pandemic levels, the company said, with prices up year-over-year.
The Hotels and Resorts segment of the company also reported 71% occupancy between October 2022 and March 2023, above the 56% reported for last year.
Separately, TUI shareholders are expected later on Tuesday to vote on a capital increase plan to repay Germany’s Economic Stablisation Fund.
($1 = 0.9317 euros)
