Hanover/Hamburg, 9 December 2020

Karl J. Pojer hands over management of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises

The integration of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises brand under the umbrella of the joint venture TUI Cruises has been completed. For Karl J. Pojer (65), the successful merger represents the appropriate time to hand over the management of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises to the management of TUI Cruises at the end of the year. Julian Pfitzner will in future be responsible for the operative business of the luxury brand, as CEO of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises brand. In previous years, he was responsible for the MS Europa 2 and the marketing of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.

Sebastian Ebel, member of the Executive Board of TUI AG: “We would like to thank Karl Pojer for his many years of outstanding service to the Group and above all for his special achievements for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. The entire Executive Board of the TUI Group wishes him all the best and continued success for his future. The maxim of perfection for the best cruise liners worldwide is a manifesto and are destined to endure in the company".

Karl J. Pojer: “It was an important step to integrate the successful and powerful Hapag-Lloyd Cruises brand into the joint venture between the TUI Group and Royal Caribbean. I have actively and intensively accompanied and shaped this route. Now it is the right time to hand over the tasks and the further path to the new management. I would like to thank all my colleagues who have supported me so enthusiastically on this track over the past seven years – for me the best crew in the world. I wish Julian Pfitzner, who perfectly represents the philosophy of the Hapag-Lloyd Cruises brand, continued success in his new management role.”

Karl J. Pojer, the award-winning tourism expert – Seatrade European Personality of the Year or Hotelier of the Year 2020 – stands for an exceptional career in the travel industry with leading positions in business and leisure hotels, club hotels and cruises. Pojer looks back on an international career with tenures in the U.S., Germany, Belgium and Portugal with leading hotel brands such as Kempinski Hotels, Sheraton Hotels and Pestana Hotels, Resorts & Casinos.

Since 1996 Karl J. Pojer has held various management positions in the TUI Group, including at the Robinson Club and as divisional director for TUI Hotels & Resorts. TUI's hotel holdings today comprise more than 400 Group-owned hotels and resorts. In May 2013, Pojer took over as Chairman of the Executive Board of Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten. With a far-reaching restructuring, consistent brand management and a realignment of the ships, he achieved a remarkable turnaround of the company. In 2019, he put Hapag-Lloyd Cruises on course for growth with two new ships in the expedition segment and achieved the best result in the company's history. In 2021 the HANSEATIC spirit, another ultra-modern ship, will complement the new expedition class.

As Chairman of the Leadership Council of CLIA Deutschland, the industry association of the German cruise industry, Karl J. Pojer has represented the growing cruise industry in Germany since 2016 with his many years of expertise in the hotel and tourism industry. In the context of the restart of cruise operations in Germany this summer, he also intensively accompanied and promoted this process in his position within the association.

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.