Hanover, 6 March 2017
Media

TUI brand growing: More than 2,222 TUI travel agencies across Europe

An additional 15,000 retail outlets in core markets / Personal advice remains crucial in many countries / TUI pursues expansion path

The TUI smile is one of the most iconic logos in Europe and has stood for holidays and high-quality advice for thirteen years. A further milestone has now been delivered: With more than 2,222 travel shops in Europe – including agencies in Germany, France and the Netherlands – TUI has continually expanded its brand presence in city centres.

erik-friemuth

This far, TUI has lacked a unified market presence, in particular in offline operations, as different tour operator brands were used. "Thanks to our oneBrand strategy, aimed at repositioning our brands under the master brand TUI, our customers will experience our unified branding everywhere – from the airport via the bus transfer all the way to the hotel, they will always be asked to ‘Follow the smile' ", said Erik Friemuth, Chief Marketing Officer at TUI Group. "The unified, ultra-modern design of TUI travel agencies, in particular, ensures a perfect start to their holidays for our customers."

Many TUI travel agencies already feature virtual reality goggles, offering customers an interactive experience of destinations and hotels, and large touch screens to enable them to plan their trips. Moreover, a service robot called Pepper will be presented at the 2017 ITB travel fair as an innovative feature to further enhance the travel agency experience.

tui-reisebuero

The portfolio does not stop here, at 2,222 travel agencies: It will grow by more than 600 further shops due to the brand migration from Thomson to TUI in the UK and Ireland. The retail presence will consists of around 1,600 Group-owned travel shops and around 1,200 franchise partners. TUI trips can also be booked via a further 15,000 independent points of sale across Europe and, of course, online.

Background to the oneBrand strategy
In the last few months, all major European tour operator brands of TUI Group were rebranded to TUI, the master brand. TUI tour operators also rank among the leading tour operators in Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Russia and Ukraine. In the UK and Ireland, Thomson’s rebrand to TUI will take place in the course of 2017.

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