TUI has started financial year 2026 promisingly with the best first quarter in its history. Underlying operating profit (EBIT) improved by €26.3 million ($31.3 million) to €77.1 million ($91.7 million) (previous year: €50.9 million).
Group revenue also
remained nearly constant at €4.9 billion (previous year: €4.9 billion, +1.3 per
cent at constant exchange rates) in an unchanged competitive and economically
challenging European market environment.
A total of 7.1 million
customers chose TUI in the first quarter.
At the Annual General Meeting, a dividend of €0.10
per share is to be approved for the first time after a long break due to
positive 2025 performance.
TUI Group CEO
Sebastian Ebel: "With a positive result in the first quarter, we have made
a good start to financial year 2026, including strategic progress. We have
accelerated our transformation in Markets + Airline and are converting to a
global marketplace for curated travel. We are growing globally and reducing
seasonality. With Romania, we have launched a new source market in Eastern
Europe and gained new customer segments. On the hotel side, we are seeing new
hotels in growth regions such as Africa and Asia. We are strengthening our
independence from traditional European markets. Our TUI app is becoming
increasingly popular. We are also continuing to invest in stationary
distribution – in Eastern Europe alone, we are opening 50 new travel agencies
this year. Travel agencies remain important partners: many customers book
earlier and higher quality there. That's why this partnership is important for
both sides.
In summary, we can
say: TUI remains on a clear growth trajectory. We are pleased with our first‑quarter
performance. Our integrated business model enables strong synergies between our
two business areas: Markets & Airline — covering our tour operators and
flight operations — and Holiday Experiences, which includes our hotels,
cruises, and TUI Musement. This will also be crucial for the rest of the year.
Bookings for winter 2025/26 and summer 2026 meet our expectations, demand
remains robust."
Mathias Kiep, CFO of
TUI Group: "The vertical integration of our business model increases
capacity utilisation and ensures attractive margins despite a challenging
environment. With the best first quarter in our company history, we have
created a solid foundation for a successful financial year 2026. In addition to
operational improvements, we have also strengthened our financial profile and
further reduced net debt. TUI is financially resilient and on track for
sustainable underlying EBIT growth of approximately 7-10 per cent CAGR."
Development of Q1
Financial Year 2026
Seasonally, the first
quarter of the financial year is typically negative in terms of results for
travel industry companies. TUI has reversed this trend and was able to improve
on last year's positive Q1 result once again.
In the Holiday
Experiences area, underlying EBIT increased by 8.9 per cent from €196.2
million to €213.7 million.
All segments
contributed positively to this growth operationally.
The Hotels &
Resorts segment operationally exceeded the previous year's record result in
the months of October to December 2025: adjusted for special effects, the
result increased by €6 million.
Overall, underlying
EBIT was €131.0 million (previous year: €150.3 million), burdened by a loss of
€10 million as a result of Hurricane "Melissa" in Jamaica and a
positive valuation effect from the previous year of €15 million.
Occupancy climbed by 1
per centage point to 81 (80) per cent, while the average bed rate achieved fell
by 2 per cent compared to the previous year to €92 (94).
The strong development
of the Cruises segment in Q1 financial year 2026 was supported by high
demand, higher occupancy and fleet expansion.
Underlying EBIT improved by 70.8 per cent to
€82.3 million (previous year: €48.2 million). Available passenger days were
significantly higher than the previous year at 3.0 (2.6) million.
Occupancy also
increased by 3 per centage points compared to the previous year period to 98 per
cent. The average rate was nearly stable at €211 (213).
TUI Musement was also able to increase its result from the
previous year. In the reporting period, 2.3 million experiences were sold (+1 per
cent).
The number of
transfers remained constant at 6 million. The underlying result of the segment
improved in the traditionally weaker winter quarter to €0.5 million (previous
year: -€2.3 million).
The Markets +
Airline area (tour operators and TUI Airline) benefited from operational
efficiency improvements and a reduced cost base despite a competitive market
environment.
Underlying EBIT rose
to -€115.3 million (previous year: -€125.2 million). 3.7 million guests
traveled with TUI in Q1 financial year 2026 – 2 per cent fewer than in the
previous year.
This development reflects the strategic
reduction in risk capacity, the focus on disciplined capacity management, and
the growth of dynamic products as part of the transformation.
Average occupancy in
the markets was one per centage point higher than in the previous year at 86 per
cent.
The number of
holidaymakers who opted for a dynamically packaged trip also increased by 8 per
cent to 0.8 million guests.
The Central region
with tour operators in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland generated a
positive underlying result of €11.7 million for the reporting period (previous
year: €7.4 million).
In the Northern
region (UK, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland), underlying
result rose from previously -€88.5 million to -€79.7 million.
The underlying EBIT of
the Western region (Netherlands, Belgium, France) fell slightly by
around €3 million to -€47.3 million (previous year: -€44.0 million).
Booking dynamics
for Holiday Experiences continue to develop positively in competitive market
environment
In the Holiday
Experiences area, strong demand in the Hotels & Resorts segment
continues.
This means that,
taking into account the Jamaica effect, occupancy for the second quarter from
January to March remains constant, but rates increase by +3 per cent compared
to the previous year.
Looking at the second
half of the year, occupancy is currently 4 per centage points lower, which, in
addition to the Jamaica effect, is due to the opening of new hotels and thus
the expansion of available capacity.
The outlook for rates
is also positive for the second half of the year at +3 per cent.
For Cruises,
occupancy in the current second quarter is +4 per centage points above the
previous year and +3 per centage points for the second half of the year.
Capacities are being
increased through fleet expansion, with demand continuing to exceed supply.
The Mein Schiff Relax
was added in financial year 2025, with the Mein Schiff Flow to follow in summer
2026.
The fleet will then
consist of 19 ships. Available passenger days increase by +9 per cent in the
second quarter and by +6 per cent in the second half of the year.
Average prices
increase by +1 per cent in both the second quarter and the second half of the
year.
At TUI Musement,
the expansion of the segment continues. The offering is being expanded in beach
and city destinations and increasingly includes multi-day experiences in the
portfolio.
TUI Musement has also
gained Jet2 as another partner, which offers its customers excursions and
experiences via a platform provided by TUI Musement.
Partners already
include booking.com, easyJet and lastminute.com.
An increase in
bookings of a mid-single-digit per centage is expected for both the second
financial quarter and the second half of the year.
The number of
transfers is in line with our assumptions for Markets + Airline in both the
second quarter and the second half of the year.
Booked revenue in the Markets
+ Airline area is moving at -1 per cent in winter 2025/26 and -2 per cent
in summer 2026 within the framework of our planned risk capacity.
Winter weather in the
source markets in recent weeks has led to a later booking time.
In winter 2025/26, the
Canary Islands, Egypt and Cape Verde are popular destinations. Popular
long-haul destinations are Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Thailand.
TUI guests' most
popular destinations for summer 2026 are once again Spain, Greece and Turkey.
Guidance for Full
Year 2026
TUI continues to focus
on operational excellence and profitable growth.
The outlook reflects
the continued sustainable growth in the Holiday Experiences business area and
the transformation of the Markets + Airline business area.
The hotel portfolio is
also growing. With over 460 hotels worldwide, TUI is internationally the
leading group in holiday hotels.
A further 70 hotels
have already been signed and planned.
The TUI Aria, another
TUI River Cruises ship, will be commissioned in March 2026, and the next TUI
Cruises cruise ship, the Mein Schiff Flow, will be commissioned in summer 2026.
On this basis, the group
confirms the following outlook at constant exchange rates for financial year
2026:
In the medium term,
TUI also expects at constant exchange rates:
