TUI: 2023 Revenue Reaches Record Level, 2024 Bookings Point to Strong Season
2023 was a good year for travel giant TUI, according to the company’s results for financial year 2023 (October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023).
Presenting the financial figures in London, UK, on Wednesday, TUI Group CEO Sebastian Ebel said the company significantly strengthened its core business and has new growth areas.
As announced, TUI Group ended the financial year 2023 with a significant increase in operating earnings. Following a good final quarter, underlying Group EBIT climbed by 139 percent year-on-year to 977 million euros.
Revenue exceeds 20-billion-euro mark for the first time
At 20.7 billion euros, revenue reached a record level and was significantly higher than the previous year and the last total revenue before the pandemic (previous year: 16.5 billion euros / 2019: 18.9 billion euros).
In financial year 2023, 19.1 million guests travelled with TUI against 16.7 million during the previous year.
According to TUI, all travel segments contributed to the significant improvement in earnings with positive operating developments.
“The transformation is taking effect and the focus on quality, operational excellence and execution has visibly paid off,” Ebel said, adding that hotels and cruises are growth areas and highly profitable, while some segments such as the tour operator business are undergoing transformation in order to also return to very good profitability.
“Our goal remains to make TUI more profitable, more efficient and stronger in all segments. By 2023, we will have created a good basis for TUI’s further sustainable and profitable growth,” he said.
Looking ahead to 2024, Ebel said TUI’s strategic initiatives and measures will make a very significant contribution to increasing value, win more customers with more products and expand its market share.
Winter bookings
TUI’s current winter bookings, which are up by 11 percent year-on-year with 5 percent higher average prices, and the first indications for next summer, lead the company to expect a further improvement in 2024.
“We therefore expect underlying EBIT to grow by at least 25 percent and revenue to increase by at least 10 percent,” Ebel said.
TUI’s bookings for Summer 2024 are still at a very early stage, with 14 percent of the summer program currently sold.
According to Ebel, initial indications point to a strong season, with bookings currently up by 13 percent on summer 2023 and average prices are 4 percent higher.
In financial year 2023, TUI also significantly reduced its net debt by 1.3 billion euros compared to the previous year. As at 30 September 2023, net debt stood at 2.1 billion euros. This positive development was supported by the net proceeds from the rights issue in April 2023 and a positive cash inflow from operating activities. The WSF (German Economic Stabilisation Fund) loans were repaid in full in the reporting period and the credit lines were not drawn.
TUI Hellas represents TUI in Greece.