Greece in demand as Turkish tourism takes a hit

Whilst Greece is seeing a spike in tourism, Turkey’s tourism sector has taken a hit according to one of the world’s largest tourism operators.

Tourism operator TUI group reported this week that low demand for tourism in Turkey and North Africa in the first half of its financial year took a toll on TUI Group’s (TUI)  shares, which dropped by about 5% in early trading.

The TUI Group is the largest leisure, tourism and travel company in the world, owning travel agencies, hotels, airlines, cruise ships and retail stores.

TUI points to the political instability and tensions in the region as one of the factors responsible for the low demand whilst noticing growing interest for destinations like Greece and Spain.

The group’s hotels are already 62% booked for the summer ahead, 4 percent higher than last year, with holidays to Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cape Verde setting the trend.

TUI reported an 8% increase in revenue for the six months to the end of March compared to last year, while customer numbers were up 4 percent. Group losses dropped year on year to 308.6 million euros against a loss of 394.6 million euros last year.

“Our transformation to an integrated tourism business is on track. We are delivering strong growth in our hotel and cruise brands. These two segments contribute half of our operating result on a full year basis,” said TUI chief executive Fritz Joussen.

“The TUI Group is changing quickly – our guidance remains unchanged despite a challenging environment. We reiterate our guidance to deliver at least 10 percent growth in underlying EBITA this year,” Joussen added.