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Europe's largest tourism group TUI expects a strong revival of the travel market, which collapsed during the Corona crisis, this year.
"We expect a largely normal summer," said TUI CEO Fritz Joussen of the Düsseldorf "Rheinische Post".
However, "only around 80 percent of air travel will be offered as in the years before the Corona crisis in order to achieve optimal occupancy".
During the holidays in July and August, it is likely that many flights on routes in the Mediterranean will quickly be booked out.
The offer for May is 50 percent booked out.
The company offered most trips at the same prices as in 2020 and 2019, but vacationers would spend more on travel.
“Customers book higher quality.
Many have additional room for maneuver in their budgets and choose a five-star hotel instead of a four-star hotel, ”said Joussen.
One reason is that vouchers for trips canceled in 2020 are redeemed.
"All of our market research shows that there is an enormous desire on the part of people to be able to travel again after this difficult Corona period."
Vaccinations should lead to more freedom
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Joussen even reckons that the current vaccinations will make all travel restrictions unnecessary: "If we have protected the particularly vulnerable groups from infection, the restrictions can fall sharply overall." Travel restrictions would then no longer be proportionate.
The TUI boss announced that all 16 cruise ships in the group would be reinstated.
The most important destinations in the summer would be Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal.
He also expects high demand for domestic destinations with a car.
Not until 2022 is it expected that the tourism industry will recover to the level of the record year 2019, and 2021 will be a year of transition due to an expected still weak first half of the year.