UK winter trading up at TUI
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TUI Travel has improved its UK winter trading compared to last year, its latest figures have revealed.
In its first quarter results (ending 31 December 2011) the company’s summer 2012 bookings remained flat compared to January last year, although its differentiated product continued to drive sales with sales up 16% in January year-on-year.
Online bookings increased for both winter (19%) and summer (16%) throughout January, with a mixture of short and longer lead in times at 49% for winter holidays and 42% for summer.
With revenue boosted 5% to £2.8 billion but an increased operating loss of £109m, TUI said its reshuffling was going to plan and results were as expected. Its capacity has dropped 9% and its load factor sits at 71%.
“We are satisfied with the progress in trading since our last update and are particularly pleased with the performance of differentiated product, which continues to book earlier, demonstrating the resilience of our business model. We are also pleased with the development of bookings and pricing in the UK, where we have outperformed the market during the key booking period in January,” said Peter Long, chief executive of TUI Travel.
“We have also had a particularly good performance in online sales. We believe that this outperformance reflects the trust that customers place in our market leading brands”.