Hanover, 1 August 2018

TUI Blue to expand into long-haul destinations

TUI Group’s new lifestyle hotel brand opens first hotel in Zanzibar

TUI Group continues its growth roadmap in its hotel segment with an expansion of its long-haul portfolio. Through the acquisition of a resort in East Africa’s island of Zanzibar, the world’s leading tourism group has complemented its portfolio in the Indian Ocean. The ‘Dream of Zanzibar‘ hotel will be operated by TUI as of now. In this context, all existing reservations will be taken over and honoured. In the 2019/20 Winter season, the hotel will then be repositioned as TUI Blue Zanzibar. With the takeover of the resort designed in the African-Arab architectural style, the new lifestyle hotel brand will make its debut establishing its concept focused on authentic experiences within the holiday region in a long-haul destination.

“In delivering our growth roadmap, we are increasingly looking for holiday destinations facilitating profitable year-round operation due to their consistently warm climate,” said TUI Blue Managing Director Artur Gerber. “The ‘Dream of Zanzibar‘ hotel already features a very good occupancy rate and high customer satisfaction levels. The destination also features a wide range of cultural influences and excursion options. These are optimum conditions enabling us to create a unique holiday experience for our guests with our new hotel brand.”

The island off Tanzania’s coast is renowned for its spices, white beaches and cultural diversity. Attractive excursion destinations also include Stone Town, the historical old part of Zanzibar City, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The destination in the Indian Ocean is increasingly becoming a trending destination, not only for beach holidays after a safari trip. Alongside TUI Blue Zanzibar. TUI Group will open another hotel in the island this winter season, the Riu Palace Zanzibar.

For a number of years, TUI Care Foundation is also active in Tanzania. Since 2015, the Foundation has teamed up with the local Kawa Training Centre to offer young people from Zanzibar the opportunity to undergo training to become tour guides. The programme offers the participants the chance to obtain professional skills, opening up new job prospects in tourism.

About TUI Blue

TUI BLUE offers experience-oriented lifestyle travellers a hotel product tailored to their individual needs – for adults, families or holidaymakers interested in local culture and authentic experiences. BLUE Guides provide great hospitality with a personal touch and the BLUE App offers guests lots of activities at their choice. The experiences are tailored for all ages and range from entertainment in a relaxed atmosphere to a holistic fitness and well-being programme as well as a variety of excursions. TUI BLUE hotels stand for food experiences with a local touch, including authentic regional dishes while also catering for all dietary needs or nutrition plans. The hotel brand has more than 90 hotels worldwide and expanding its portfolio with a strong focus on Asia, the Middle East and Africa. TUI BLUE is a global brand of TUI Hotels & Resorts‘ leading leisure hotel portfolio.

About TUI Group

The TUI Group is one of the world's leading tourism groups and operates worldwide. The Group is headquartered in Germany. TUI shares are listed in the MDAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and in the regulated market of the Lower Saxony Stock Exchange in Hanover. TUI Group offers its 19 million customers integrated services from a single source and forms the entire tourism value chain under one roof. The Group owns over 400 hotels and resorts with premium brands such as RIU, TUI Blue and Robinson and 17 cruise ships, ranging from the MS Europa and MS Europa 2 in the luxury class and expedition ships in the HANSEATIC class to the Mein Schiff fleet of TUI Cruises and cruise ships operated by Marella Cruises in the UK. The Group also includes Europe's leading tour operator brands and online marketing platforms, for example for hotel-only or flight-only offers, five airlines with more than 130 modern medium- and long-haul aircraft and around 1,200 travel agencies. In addition to expanding its core business with hotels and cruises via successful joint ventures and activities in vacation destinations, TUI is increasingly focusing on the expansion of digital platforms. The Group is transforming itself into a global tourism platform company.  

Global responsibility for sustainable economic, environmental and social action is at the heart of our corporate culture. With projects in 25 countries, the TUI Care Foundation initiated by TUI focuses on the positive effects of tourism, on education and training and on strengthening environmental and social standards. In this way, it supports the development of vacation destinations. The globally active TUI Care Foundation initiates projects that create new opportunities for the next generation.