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Preussag positive despite September 11
Tourism giant Preussag said 2001 was a positive year for the business despite the effects of 11 September.
TUI Deutschland, Germany’s largest tour operator, reported turnover up by 7% year on year. In the UK, its tour operators which includes Thomson Holidays, Crystal Lakes & Mountains, Just, Skydeals and Skytours grew by around 5%, and according to Preussag are expected to end the year with a record result.
Preussag said that its policy of integrating core functions into Hanover had paid off. In October the company announced a major shake-up which saw 400 UK head office jobs go at Thomson Travel Group – now known as TUI UK.
“Our excellent results even in a complex situation show that our model of an integrated tourism group has proven itself,” said Dr. Michael Frenzel, Preussag AG executive board chairman.
“Thanks to our flexible and efficient control mechanisms, we were able to use our group-owned airlines and hotels to their optimum capacity. In 2001, Hapag-Lloyd Flug carried a record number of passengers, more than seven million.”
Preussag said tht booking demand for the rest of the winter season had risen sharply, and since the start of the year had exceeded last year’s levels. Mr Frenzel said: “Cumulatively, there remains a shortfall of around 10 per cent, although with the current trends, this should shrink still further.”
The company reported that booking behaviour is increasingly moving towards less long-term, early bookings towards short-term, late bookings.While early bookings for the 2002 summer season are down in total on last year Mr Frenzel said he was hopeful things would improve due to the trend for people to book holidays later. He said: “Assuming booking behaviour is similar to winter, which our market research indicates, we have a good chance of the summer business being reasonable.”
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