Tui remains resilient as holiday demand undimmed

Despite troubles in Turkey and the Brussels bombings, Tui informed investors that overall demand and pricing for holidays has remained resilient in the first half of its financial year.

Tui said it has sold 47% of its summer holiday programme, in line with last year, and at 1% higher average selling prices, meaning revenue from the programme has been lifted 3%.

With Turkey off limits for many holidaymakers, the Anglo-German travel group behind the Thomson and First Choice brands said it "remixed" its offering to channel travellers to Spain and on longer-haul holidays instead.

The cruise arm was said to be delivering continued growth, driven by strong demand for the latest in the Mein Schiff cruise ships, which is due to be launched this July.

Ahead of interim results in May, said it remained "well positioned" to deliver underlying EBITA growth of at least 10% in the year to September.

The first half of the year has been focused on the winter programme, which has closed out almost fully sold.

Revenue for the winter programme was also up 3%, driven by higher average selling prices across most markets and with a particularly good performance in the Canaries, Spain and long-haul destinations.

Chief executive Friedrich Joussen said the group had demonstrated the flexibility of its business to override the impact of geopolitical events.

"Our integrated model with our differentiated range of own accommodation content, combined with strong supplier relationships continue to give us a strong competitive position and sustainable earnings growth," he said, adding that the Hotelbeds disposal process remained on track.