Hanover/Paris, 17 June 2020

TUI is repositioning its business in France

TUI France faces comprehensive restructuring – focus on core brands and third-party distribution

TUI Group continues the repositioning of the company in the wake of the Corona pandemic. A comprehensive restructuring plan for the French regional entity TUI France was presented today. In future, TUI France will focus on the high-margin business with a few core brands. Offers that are high-volume but do not generate sufficient margins are removed from the portfolio. As a result, TUI France's business volume will decline. In addition, in France, the Group's own distribution network of 70 travel agencies is to be sold or closed.

As a result of the newly tailored product range and the changed distribution model, the company will be significantly leaner. The project foresees a reduction of 583 jobs, in the scenario of the closing of all own retail shops, which is approximately 60 per cent of the current TUI France staff base. The changes are now being discussed with the relevant committees and employee representatives in France. The future plan should then enable TUI France to break even from 2021 onwards.

TUI France was already loss-making before the pandemic. In a structurally challenging market with a high cost structure and low margins, the company had been making losses in recent years. In the wake of the corona pandemic, the situation for TUI France has again deteriorated significantly. A far-reaching package of measures is now needed to create a perspective for the company within the Group.

In May 2020, TUI announced that as a consequence of the Corona crisis, all business operations would be reviewed in order to steer the Group as a whole safely through the crisis and provide it with a stable future. Subsidiaries and regional entities that had been loss-making in recent years should be restructured.

Overall, the TUI Group aims to reduce its overhead cost base by 30 per cent worldwide. The restructuring of TUI France is a step towards making TUI more competitive and then emerging from the crisis stronger.

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.

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