Tui Group expects to take more than 500,000 people away on holidays at Easter with a 95% load factor broadly in line with pre-Covid levels.
Customers are continuing to book at shorter notice and prefer package holidays and all-inclusive offers, according to Europe’s largest travel group.
The performance for Easter – the first opportunity to take a longer holiday this year – prompted an upbeat forecast for the summer.
Chief executive Sebastian Ebel said: “Based on trends to date and as we have said in March, we continue to anticipate capacity to be close to pre-pandemic levels. We expect a good summer 2023.”
The UK and German markets saw record individual booking days, and in the four weeks to February 5 bookings were around 10% higher than pre-pandemic 2019 levels, with prices also up.
The company cited various studies supporting this development, saying that customers do not want to give up holidays, despite the current economic uncertainties
Abel said: ”Booking momentum remains encouraging, and the travel trends and strong demand for the Easter holidays are a healthy signal for the upcoming summer.
“Our products and strong brand are popular and in high demand – in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and many other markets where people are looking for relaxation in the sun and active experiences.”
The Canary Islands is the top Easter destination from then UK and Germany for Tui.
Turkey, the Balearics, mainland Spain, Egypt, which offer guaranteed sun during this travel period, as well as Greece are also top of the popularity scale, according to the company.
When Tui presented its first quarter financials on February 14, it reported people’s continued willingness to travel and a significant increase in booking momentum since the beginning of the year.