Sebastian Ebel assumed leadership of TUI as CEO on October 1, 2022. His long and distinguished career in the group includes being a board member responsible for driving the successful growth of the hotel and cruise business, and also as TUI's CFO during the pandemic. Mathias Kiep succeeded Ebel as CFO in October 2022.
In his first two years as CEO, Sebastian Ebel has focused on TUI's transformation, both strategically and operationally. The repayment of all government funds from the pandemic programs has been completed, management has been restructured and operations have been strengthened. The Group has recently reported double-digit growth in underlying EBIT for eight quarters in a row.
TUI is not only growing in existing markets with new products and new customers, but also aims to grow globally outside of Europe - with a scalable and dynamic range of tour operators, as well as new hotel clusters. For Hotels, the focus is on North, West and East Africa, and Asia, while new sales markets include Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Eastern Europe. TUI has been providing holiday experiences worldwide for decades, and will now leverage this global brand awareness to win local customers in countries that have traditionally been TUI destinations. This offers substantial potential for global customer growth.
Mathias Kiep was appointed CFO of the international tourism group on October 1, 2022. During his term of office, the Corona state aid was fully repaid. Thanks in part to successful capital market transactions, TUI's balance sheet structure was massively improved. He and his team prepared and successfully executed TUI's re-entry into the MDAX. In June 2024, after nine years, the Group ended its dual listing in the UK and Germany and has been at home on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange ever since. Mathias Kiep joined TUI AG in 2011 and was responsible, among other things, for strategy and mergers & acquisitions. As Managing Director of Finance at TUI Deutschland GmbH, he also gained extensive experience in the operational business of a large national company.
Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TUI AG: “TUI has had two successful years. This has been reflected in turnover and earnings from quarter to quarter. The Group has been able to overcome the consequences of the pandemic thanks to an enormous effort by the entire TUI team. Now the focus is purely on strong profitable growth. TUI is accelerating its transformation and thus creating the basis to continue playing a leading role in the rapidly growing global tourism segment. The tourism sector is healthy and continues to grow faster than the overall economy even after the pandemic. Travel is and will remain a global megatrend for the foreseeable future. The team around Sebastian Ebel is ideally positioned to lead TUI to further profitable growth. Together with all my colleagues on the Supervisory Board, I look forward to continuing our close cooperation with Sebastian Ebel as CEO, Mathias Kiep as CFO, and the entire TUI team.”