TUI’s UK summer 2017 passenger numbers are 3% ahead of this time last year while revenue is up 11%.
In its half-yearly trading update announced this morning, the group said 53% of its summer holidays have been sold, with average selling prices up 8% year on year.
The price increase is similar to Thomas Cook’s, which delivered its own trading update yesterday.
It said these results were in line with its expectations, therefore it is still expecting to see 10% growth in its pre-tax earnings for the full year.
It said its increase in revenue and the rise in prices in the UK in the first half reflected growth in long-haul and cruise, with the launch of its newest ship, TUI Discovery 2 in May, as well as the rise in the cost of the euro.
Lower demand for holidays to North Africa and Turkey was being offset by higher demand for other destinations, such as the western Mediterranean and the Caribbean, it said.
TUI said that, excluding Turkey, bookings for the group as a whole were up 7% for summer 2017.
It is finishing the winter season with 95% of its programme sold, with revenue in the UK up 20%, passenger numbers up 12% and a 7% rise in average selling prices.
The group will issue its first-half interim results on May 15.
