The Tui Group has responded to being overtaken as the UK’s largest tour operator by Jet2holidays by insisting “we want to be market leader”.
Jet2holidays added more than 500,000 to its Atol package-holiday licence this week, taking the number of passengers it’s licensed to carry over 12 months to 5,859,600.
That took the Jet2-owned tour operator past Tui for the first time in the UK. Tui UK is licensed to carry 5,336,410 passengers in the same period although Tui holds an additional Atol of 245,715 for cruise brand Marella Cruises.
Tui Group chief executive Sebastian Ebel said: “Jet2 has done very well filling the gap Thomas Cook left behind. We’ve not benefited as much as Jet2 from the disappearance of Thomas Cook [in 2019].”
He added: “We’re aware of what’s happened. To be number one is not a target in itself, but it’s clear we want to be number one.
“We want to be the market leader not only in numbers but also in quality. We want to grow stronger than our dear competitor.”
Ebel said Tui has “a clear target to improve profitability, to focus on wholesale packages and add dynamic packaging and component sales” and insisted: “We’re active to bring back profitable market share.”
Tui reported a group loss of €232 million for the three months to December, the first quarter of its financial year, but Ebel reported “record bookings in the UK” for this summer and “a good performance in retail outlets and third-party outlets”.
He said: “The start of the new year saw a significant increase in booking momentum with the UK and German markets experiencing very strong booking days. In the last four weeks, overall volumes exceeded pre-pandemic levels with higher average prices.”
Ebel noted high occupancy rates in Tui’s hotels and resorts, saying this “means higher prices, especially at the end of the season”.
He reported average holiday prices this winter up 29% on 2019 and summer 2023 prices up 24%.
Asked if he saw any sign of customers ‘trading down’, Ebel said: “The only thing we’ve seen is that people think in budgets and look for the right vacation at that budget. We do see less demand for long haul and more mid-haul.
“Last year, we saw people went on holiday longer by an average of one day. We expected that to go down this year, but we’ve not seen that.”
He added: “We’re in a segment where people have more disposable income.”
Jet2holidays and Tui UK now dominate the UK outbound package-holiday market to an extent not previously seen, with their combined Atols totalling more than 11.4 million passengers.
The next nearest Atol holder in size is On the Beach with 1,863,023.
Only three other Atol holders – We Love Holidays, Booking.com and easyJet Holidays – are licensed to carry more than one million passengers.