The Chinese owner of Club Med and the online Thomas Cook brand saw half year losses double as global travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 pandemic hit revenue.
Fosun Tourism Group, the tourism arm of Shanghai billionaire Guo Guangchang’s investment firm Fosun International, lost two billion yuan, or $308 million, in the first six months of 2021.
This was more than double a loss of 997 million yuan a year earlier as revenue fell to 2.78 billion yuan from 4.52 billion yuan, Fosun Tourism said on Thursday after the close of trade at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The new Thomas Cook online travel agent Thomas Cook UK was soft launched in September 2020 – a year after the collapse of Thomas Cook Group.
Thomas Cook UK recorded a business volume of approximately 113.4 million yuan in the six months.
However, the lifting of UK Covid travel restrictions a month ago saw Thomas Cook UK achieve business volume of 29.8 million yuan in July, up by 94.2% over June.
Fosun Tourism Group said: “In the first half of 2021, as affected by the pandemic, travel in the UK was significantly restricted, our business focused on upgrading digital platforms and launching brands in core European markets to gain awareness and scale.”
The Casa Cook and Cook’s Club hotel brands reopened 11 properties by the end of July across Greece, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria and Egypt.
“We plan to further expand Casa Cook, Cook’s Club, Cook’s Home and other derivative brands worldwide, with not less than 30 hotels, including the hotels already opened, by the end of 2023,” Fosun said.
All mountain resorts of Club Med in the Alps, except Saint Moritz resort in Switzerland, were not in operation for the 2021 snow season and outbound travel from major customer sourcing markets were suspended.
The all-inclusive resort operator suffered a 64% decline in business volume in the half year to June 30 with losses of 991.6 million yuan.
The company received a €70 million long term loan from banks in January guaranteed by the French government.
Club Med resumed the operation of 39 of its 63 resorts globally by the end of June.