THE world’s largest tourism operator TUI said today it is on track to meet its full-year targets thanks to a “very good travel summer”, despite the upheaval caused by heatwaves and wildfires in Europe.

More than 5.5 million people travelled with TUI between April and June, up from 5.1 million a year earlier, helping the group to its first profitable third quarter since the start of the pandemic.

Underlying earnings before tax and interest (Ebit) rose to €169.4 million (RM850 million), compared with a loss of €27 million over the same period a year earlier.

Revenues grew by more than 19% to €5.3 billion as travel demand boomed despite higher prices.

“Summer 2023 is going very well and demand for holidays remains high,” CEO Sebastian Ebel said in a statement.

“The heatwave in northern Europe in June and the wildfires in southern Europe have only temporarily dampened the previously strong development,” he said.

“Overall it will be a very good travel summer and a good year for TUI in 2023.”

Wildfires forced TUI to evacuate around 8,000 guests from the Greek island of Rhodes at the end of July.

The costs for repatriation flights, compensation to customers, and lost business are expected to total around €25 million and will be reflected in the group’s full-year results, TUI said.

But the group expects to report “a significant improvement in underlying Ebit” for the full year compared with the previous financial year.

Bookings for the ongoing summer holiday season were 6% higher year-on-year, it said, while prices were up 7% on average.

TUI suffered record losses in 2020 and 2021 when the travel sector was pummelled by Covid-19 restrictions.

TUI received state aid from the German government to help it through the crisis, which it paid off in full in April. – AFP, August 9, 2023.