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TUI pleased with UK trading
TUI has sold nearly half of its UK summer holidays, the same as this time last year.
Giving a pre-close trading update this morning, the group said trading in the UK continues to outperform the market, with 48% of the programme sold to date.
It said average selling price is up 8% "reflecting cost base inflation of approximately 5% and the continued increase in differentiated product sales".
"Our differentiated products which are difficult for all our competitors to replicate continue to perform strongly, and currently account for 63% of UK bookings, up seven percentage points on prior year," said the update.
"We have continued to increase the proportion of holidays sold online with 40% booked online for Summer 2012, up five percentage points versus the prior year."
UK summer 2012 controlled distribution is at 90% , with online sales accounting for just under half of this.
Meanwhile, UK Winter trading is exceeding expectations, with UK, booked load factor currently at 90%, slightly ahead of this stage last year.
"We are pleased with our price performance, with average selling prices up 4% due to inflationary cost increases and increased differentiated product sales," it added.
TUI chief executive Peter Long said: "We are pleased with our winter performance, particularly in the UK, where our focus on differentiated product and online distribution is resulting in us out-performing the market.
"Summer 2012 volumes have improved in all key markets since our last update. We are pleased with the development of bookings and pricing in the UK, where we continue to out-perform the market and have a strong performance in online sales.
"In addition, our business improvement programme is progressing according to plan. We remain confident that these self-help measures, coupled with our strategy, will help us to deliver in the current challenging macro-economic environment."
Trading in France, however, remains difficult where bookings for North Africa are weaker than originally anticipated.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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