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Hanover (dpa) - The tourism business, which collapsed over long stretches in 2020, has led to a bloodletting of personnel at Tui, according to information from corporate circles.
Last November, the entire group had 37 percent fewer employees than a year earlier, the German press agency learned on Friday.
Accordingly, the workforce shrank from just under 60,300 people in November 2019 to around 38,200 before the end of 2020.
In addition to the usual seasonal effects such as lower capacity utilization outside of summer, this time there were also the consequences of the pandemic.
In addition, the world's largest travel company is pursuing sharp austerity measures, especially abroad.
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When the official figures for the 2019/2020 financial year were presented in December, it was already clear that the Corona crisis is having a major impact on employment.
As of September 2020, Tui still had around 48,300 employees - after a good 71,500 a year earlier.
Last summer, the group initially needed fewer seasonal workers in the holiday areas than in normal years.
After the travel restrictions were withdrawn, there have been more recruitments again, the company said in Hanover.
In addition, there are now closings in winter sports regions and southern destinations such as the Canary Islands or Egypt.
In winter, the tourism business is otherwise weaker - before Corona, the difference in staff compared to summer was 15,000, as a spokesman reported.
Overall, however, the austerity program should also play a role.
TUI boss Fritz Joussen wants to cut 8,000 jobs, especially outside Germany.
So far, he does not consider further cuts necessary because the measures introduced would bring more savings from 2023 than initially calculated.
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As it was said from the group environment, the job cuts in Germany should have been around 17 percent by November compared to the previous year.
In the hotels at the holiday resorts, however, the workforce was more than halved (minus 57 percent).
The airline Tuifly is said to have employed 12 percent and the company Tui Germany 7 percent fewer employees.
At Tuifly, job cuts and fleet cuts are highly controversial.
The works council confirmed the development on request.
The seasonal effect remains particularly large in the holiday areas: “We also have many other time limits.
In summer it goes up, in winter a little down. "
In view of the current situation, however, a particularly large number of temporary contracts have recently not been able to be extended.
“In Mexico alone we normally have up to 300 tour guides - but in 2020 there will be next to no business.
There is no other way. "
In Germany, the company used expiring contracts and age fluctuation for the ongoing workforce reduction.
"Some people have also quit voluntarily," reported Group Works Council chief Frank Jakobi.
There were no redundancies for operational reasons.
In addition, the bankruptcy of ex-rival Thomas Cook in 2019 initially boosted employment at Tui: "At that time, we had the highest booking volume of all time in Great Britain, and in Germany there was also a lot of additional business at first."
This is one of the reasons why the workforce was very large at the end of 2019.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210122-99-134236 / 2