News & Stories

Fidenza. Spontaneous end: TUI Italia will cease its activities, effective March 15, 2020. The news was announced by the Italian division of TUI Group, based in Fidenza near Parma, last week. This seems to be another step on the way to restructuring the company's business model. However, TUI will not withdraw completely from the Italian market.

Frankfurt/Main. Holidays with motorhomes continue to become more popular. New registrations of recreational vehicles in Germany rose last year by almost 14%, a new record – for the 6th time in a row.

Frankfurt. The tourist tax on the Balearic Islands is also used to promote sustainability. Since 2016, more than 200 projects are said to have been realised in this area. Local tourism experts highly appreciate this development.

Geneva. About a year ago, wholesale hotel rates were leaking into the retail channel, due to the activities of non-contracted OTAs. Now, however, the tide seems to be turning, due to tightening up on the part of the bedbanks, the demise of one the most notorious 'rogue' OTAs and an agreement between Expedia and Marriott to filter all wholesale rates. The lessons learned from Amoma's business behaviour and its insolvency.

Bolzano. For a quarter of a century, experts have been waiting for the health holiday to properly catch on. In truth, its success is waning. Destinations pay far too little attention to this segment and to others. Instead, they're all still chasing the hardcore skier - even if, like other regular winter holidaymakers, they really are "spoiled brats". In making statements like this, the Austrians are talking about the Germans. Prof. Thomas Bausch analysed their behaviour.

Salzburg. "The insolvency of Thomas Cook could hit the package tour so hard that it will not recover in Germany," said Gerhard Ziegler, Director Brand, Content & Community of Holidaycheck, during a presentation at the "Brennpunkt e-Tourismus", an event of the state of Salzburg, which took place at the local university. The German Travel Organisation has an entirely different view: At the annual convention on Tuesday/Wednesday, it presented a current study about the – not battered – image of the industry after Thomas Cook. However, in the background, the discussion about the future protection of customer funds in the case of bankruptcy has started in the operator industry. Surprisingly, the German Federal Government announced on Wednesday morning it would be compensating disadvantaged Thomas Cook customers at the expense of the state.

Hamburg/Berlin. The German travel industry moved seamlessly into the 2019 travel year, securing another strong year of growth. German demand for holidays was uninterrupted. In particular, holidays to the Mediterranean and long-haul were popular. Last minute business strengthened towards the end of the season.

Frankfurt. Already one and a half years ago the German Tourism Association launched the requirements for the planned tourism strategy of the Federal Government. Now the association has published a comprehensive catalogue of measures. There's criticism.

London/Frankfurt. The collapse of Thomas Cook in late September sent shockwaves throughout the European travel industry and beyond. But it has also produced winners: The vacuum Thomas Cook left, has led to a significant restructuring of the hotel portfolios of Europe's largest tour operators, including TUI and DER Touristik, but also FTI Touristik, alltours, schauinsland-reisen, who are all striving to get a piece of the pie.

London. Many shadows were cast over this year's London World Travel Market: from the uncertainty of Brexit to the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook to Greta and Trump. No wonder, then, that more and more exhibitors either decided against attending or made significant changes to their stands.