TUI Travel Trading Update
TUI Travel PLC has today issued its first quarter results which relate to the first three months ending 31st March 2009. The organisation which includes Thomson Holidays and First Choice Holidays states that they are well placed to meet initial board expectations for the year ending 30th September 2009.
TUI reports that winter 09/09 trading concluded in line with their expectations and only suffered a slight decrease in load factors throughout March which has been attributed to Easter falling later than last year. Looking at summer 2009, TUI state that a growing trend towards last minute holidays has continued as booking are slightly down year on year.
Focussing on the UK, TUI reports that customer volumes are in line with capacity reductions, with a load factor of 58%.
In recent weeks, TUI has reported that long haul holidays have had a particularly strong demand, up by 2% in the last two weeks, despite the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico. In place of Mexico, customer demand has focused on other long haul destinations such as Jamaica (+30% in last two weeks), Egypt (+23%) and the Dominican Republic (+19%).
In fact, TUI Travel estimates that of the approximately 2,500 holidaymakers in Mexico at the time of the swine flu outbreak, only approximately 10% accepted the offer of an early exit.
The trend towards non-Euro destinations has also continued according to TUI, with Egypt and Turkey benefitting most of all, whilst the current financial climate persuades more and more customers to look for all inclusive holidays (+33%).
