Apparently vacationers want to calculate less and less - especially not when it comes to food.

And if the food, the ice cream in between and the cocktail in the evening are included in the travel price, calculations under the sun can be omitted.

“More than half of our guests book all-inclusive trips for the summer.

For the first time, the majority decides like this," says TUI Germany boss Stefan Baumert in an interview with the FAZ, "For destinations like Turkey or Egypt, where many hotels traditionally offer all-inclusive stays, the proportion is even 80 or 90 percent .”

Timo Kotowski

Editor in Business.

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The desire for more, especially in times of higher inflation rates - for Baumert this is not a contradiction, but rather the logical consequence.

During their holidays, vacationers wanted a certain amount of certainty that additional costs wouldn't blow the budget after all.

Because Baumert also sees that TUI customers are also looking more closely at the price of the holidays because of the general rise in prices.

And announcements from the entire travel industry that many things would become more expensive, but not vacations, could not be kept.

“There is no denying that inflation is higher.

Travel prices have also risen for the summer,” admits Baumert.

Now it is put into perspective.

“But the increases are lower than the general rise in prices.

Package holidays are not an inflation driver,” he says.

There is also “no general surcharge”.

For Turkey, prices have risen a little more, for Tunisia hardly, Spain and Greece are in the middle.

“Even at a destination, the changes are different depending on the hotel.

The picture of price changes is more heterogeneous than ever before.”

"The Early Birds are back"

However, there seems to be a bit of concern that vacationers' urge to save is still growing, although the PWC consultants determined for a study that Germans tend to want to save on jewelry and furniture.

In any case, TUI gives recommendations that the group declares as “saving tips”.

Booking all inclusive is one of them.

Taking advantage of early bird discounts is another.

This also gives the group planning security.

After the pandemic period, when holidaymakers hesitated, the courtship of early bookings seems to be working.

"Early Birds are back.

In the case of new incoming bookings, roughly the pre-crisis level is expected in the market as a whole in January,” says Baumert.

January was traditionally the busiest booking month in the industry.

Nevertheless, Corona has led to lasting changes.

For a long time, tour operators had refused to allow package tours to be canceled later without high fees.

This has long been the norm for pure hotel bookings.

The turning point came during the crisis.

Not only at TUI can a so-called flex option be booked, which allows a later cancellation.

"Before Corona, there were concerns in the industry about such an option, which have proven to be unfounded.

The flex option brings us more early bookings again, only a negligibly small number jump off later,” says Baumert.

He is certain: “The flex prices introduced during the pandemic will remain.

Many vacationers want a cancellation or rebooking option as security, 40 percent book them for the coming summer.”