Tui claims to have outperformed the market in January

Tui Travel claims to have “significantly outperformed” the market in the peak January selling period for summer holidays.
Sales volumes are now ahead of the company’s 9% capacity reduction, and is 35% sold to date, described as in line with the previous year.
Capacity has been cut for North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, with some of this reduction offset by increased capacity in the Canary Islands.
“Turn of year trading has been ahead of expectations and we are particularly pleased with our online performance,” Tui said.
The average selling price is up 8%, reflecting cost base inflation of approximately 5% and the continued increase in differentiated content.
“We have continued to increase the proportion of holidays sold online with 42% booked online for summer 2012, up six percentage points versus the prior year.”
All inclusive bookings are up by seven percentage points to make up 55% of bookings to date for the first summer that First Choice becomes exclusively all inclusive.
The ‘all in’ holiday concept is proving attractive, particularly in the current economic environment.
“As we continue to expand our differentiated offering, which traditionally books earlier, these products have accounted for 64% of bookings to date, up seven percentage points on the prior year,” Tui said.
UK bookings for this winter have improved since early December, with volumes continuing to move towards a capacity reduction of 9% and there is less left to sell against this time last year.
The booked load factor is currently 71%, described as being broadly in line with last year.
“We are pleased with our price performance, with average selling prices up 5% in light of inflationary cost increases and increased differentiated sales,” Tui said.
“Demand for differentiated products continues to be strong with volumes up 15%. These products now account for 62% of our sales, up 12 percentage points on prior year.
“As anticipated, North Africa remains challenging with volumes down 23%. Across our programme strong demand in the lates booking period has resulted in improved load factors for November, December and January.”

Spain to ‘refresh’ brand with new marketing plan

WTM: Spain to ‘refresh’ brand with new marketing plan

Nov 09, 2011 14:00PM GMT

The Spanish Tourist Office is following the lead of Microsoft and Levi’s as it plans a three-year strategic marketing plan, due to launch in January.

The Spanish Tourist Office’s new UK director, Enrique Ruiz de Lera, said Spain faced major challenges and was seeking to learn solutions from the experiences of major consumer brands.

He compared Spain to Microsoft – leading the market for many years but now challenged by Apple – or, in Spain’s case, Turkey and Croatia. Ruiz de Lera said: “These destinations are competing hard. They have excellent product and they’ve learnt from our mistakes. We need to refresh our brand.”

Ruiz de Lera also said Spain was seen as “uncool” by young people, in the same way as under-30s don’t want to buy Levi jeans because they are worn by their parents.

As part of a drive to target the younger market, the Spanish Tourist Office, is working with MTV on branded content – a first for Spain and MTV. Reality TV show Fix You will air in January.

Objectives of the marketing strategy include a drive to increase the average tourist spend by 15% in three years – a goal that Ruiz de Lera admited was ambitious.

“It’s a long shot. When we planned the goal, the economy was less difficult. But you have to be bold,” he said.

The STO also hopes to diversify the market over the next three years, both seasonally and geographically.

Ruiz de Lera also said product diversification was necessary, with a cross-selling plan to encourage tourists to experience more. “A visitor to the Costa del
Sol can add on a few days in Malaga, for example.”

The UK market was still extremely price-sensitive, he said, and Spain had to be careful not to price itself out of the market.