TUI Travel Says Demand Is Continuing To Improve
24 März 2010 - 8:41AM
Dow Jones News
U.K.-based travel operator TUI Travel PLC (TT.LN) Wednesday said
demand for leisure holidays was continuing to improve strongly and
it's well positioned to meet the boad's expectations for the
current fiscal year ending Sep. 30.
Europe's biggest travel operator by market capitalization had
said in early February that bookings were improving, and Wednesday
said they had continued to improve since then. Cumulative bookings
in the U.K., its biggest market are up 13% in the six months to
end-March, and have risen 23% in the Nordics.
TUI Travel, whose brands include Thomson, First Choice and
Airtours, said it had sold almost all the available holidays for
this winter, and had experienced strong prices for late bookings
because few holidays remained. It added that it had achieved
planned load factors.
For the summer, trading remains strong, with improvements in
cumulative booking volumes in most source markets.
In early February, the company had said it expected
profitability to improve each quarter this year due to improving
demand, its exit from scheduled flying in Germany, benefits from
its venture in Canada and thanks to further synergies from the
merger that created the company.
It reiterated that it expects to make "significant progress" in
the second quarter for these reasons, and is well positioned to
meet the board's expectations for the fiscal year.
The company's shares closed at 304 pence Tuesday, and are up 19%
in the year to date on hopes for an improvement in the travel
market.
Like rival Thomas Cook Group PLC (TCG.LN), TUI Travel was hit
hard by the economic downturn, seeing revenues decline as it cut
the number of holidays on offer in response to the fall in demand.
The reduction in capacity helped the companies protect their prices
and margins.
-By Steve McGrath, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9284;
steve.mcgrath@dowjones.com
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