Tui Group chief executive Sebastian Ebel accused the media of “exaggerating” the recent wildfires on Rhodes as he presented the company’s results for the three months to June on Wednesday (August 9).
The Tui chief insisted the company “took care of customers” but said the group would offer insurance “for the fires” in future and had learned at least one lesson from the emergency.
Ebel insisted: “There was a huge discrepancy between what was in the media and what was happening on Rhodes. The climate was not as described. I was there. I went there the first day and hardly saw an area affected.”
He argued: “The media is very often exaggerating and that does not help. In Greece, there have been less fires than previously, but they affected the tourist areas.”
Ebel rejected a suggestion that holidaymakers might no longer be attracted to the Mediterranean in peak summer because of the increasing heat due to global warming, yet he acknowledged the season could be extended as a consequence.
He also dismissed a suggestion that there had been complaints from some customers, saying: “A lot of complaints I heard were not from our customers.
“There were one or two [cases] where we didn’t know where our customers were. That was one thing we learned.
“Some customers were offered homes by Rhodes’ residents and stayed there. We will add [a feature] in our Tui app so we know where customers are, if customers agree.”
Ebel insisted: “We allowed customers to cancel. We don’t want to bring customers to an area if they don’t want to go. We allowed cancellations and re-bookings.
“We gave refunds and free re-booking. We took 8,000 customers to new hotels or flew them out. We also brought customers home who were not ours.
“Customers who wanted to stay could spend their vacation as planned. Those who wanted to go home could fly home. It showed the value of a package. But 90% of the island was not affected.”
Asked whether there was a threat from wildfires to business around the Mediterranean, he said: “No. It gives us more opportunities for growth.”
But he acknowledged: “There will be changes. The season will be longer – it will start earlier and end later. Maybe the season will open until Christmas.
“Other destinations will become even stronger, like the Canary Islands or Portugal, and we’ll focus on new destinations like the Nordic countries.”
Yet he noted: “There is a huge price difference if you go to Turkey or go to Norway.”
Ebel said: “We had very strong bookings and these were impacted by Rhodes, but it was only a slip for a short time. We’re back to good bookings.”
He insisted: “I would not expect more wildfires because people prepare [for them], but the media will report every wildfire.”
Ebel added: “We will offer an insurance product for these fires.”
Tui reported a third quarter operating profit of €175 million for the three months to the end of June and a pre-tax profit for the quarter of €47 million – a turnaround from a €602 million loss the previous year.
Ebel reported the group’s summer bookings up 6% year on year, with average prices 7% up on the same time in 2022 and bookings reaching 95% of the 2019 level.
He noted the “missing 5% is mainly in long haul, a segment that is still weak”, most probably due to cost increases.