TUI Group continued to deliver its transformation in the first half of 2016/17, as the integrated tourism business focussed on its hotel and cruise brands. 

Overall, the group delivered strong turnover growth and an improved operating result.

Fritz Joussen, chief executive, TUI Group, said: “Our transformation to an integrated tourism business is on track.

“We are delivering strong growth in our hotel and cruise brands.

“These two segments contribute half of our operating result on a full year basis. 

“The TUI Group is changing quickly - our guidance remains unchanged despite a challenging environment.

“We reiterate our guidance to deliver at least ten per cent growth in underlying EBITA this year.”

In order to provide clearer reporting and to emphasise the value of TUI Group’s hotel and cruise business, the result for Blue Diamond Hotels, which forms part of the Canadian joint venture Sunwing, is now reported within the hotels segment, while the result for Thomson Cruises is now reported within the cruise segment.

The results of the two entities had formerly been reported within the Northern region.

In the first six months of financial year 2016/17, TUI Group reported strong growth in turnover of 8.2 per cent to €6.69 billion.

Including exchange rate effects, the growth amounted to 3.3 per cent.

At constant currency rates and on a like-for-like basis excluding the late timing impact of Easter 2017, underlying EBITA improved by 6.3 per cent to a seasonal loss of €193.3 million.

Alongside the core brands RIU, Robinson, TUI Blue and TUI Magic Life and other hotel investments, the hotels and resorts segment now comprises Blue Diamond Hotels of the Canadian Sunwing Group, in which TUI holds a 49 per cent stake.

Hotels delivered substantial growth in its operating result in half one of 2016/17.

Underlying EBITA rose to €122.8 million, up 27.9 per cent.

RIU increased the occupancy rate of its own hotels by one percentage point, while average revenue per bed grew by seven per cent.

Reporting for TUI Group’s cruises segment is also expanded to include the result delivered by Thomson Cruises.

The results now include all three cruise lines: TUI Cruises, Thomson Cruises and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.

In the first half of the financial year, the sector continued its growth path and achieved a substantial improvement in its operating result.

Underlying EBITA climbed to €75 million, up 52.1 per cent.

Strong growth was delivered both by TUI Cruises and Thomson Cruises due to the successful expansion of their fleets in summer 2016 with Mein Schiff 5 and TUI Discovery, respectively.