Hanover, 14 January 2021

TUI Group focuses on growth in Tours & Activities

  • Over 170,000 experiences available through a unique combination of digital platform and on-site delivery
  • Recent months used for development: Contactless, digital service is customer favourite and will be continuously expanded

TUI, the world's leading tourism group, is strengthening its commitment to Tours & Activities across all distribution channels. A total of over 170,000 excursions, activities, tickets and transfers are now available to partners, travel agents and customers in more than 140 countries.

"The global Tours & Activities market will start to recover as early as 2021, and the previous record year of 2019 will be eclipsed by 2023," said TUI Musement CEO David Schelp. "Up until now the market has been characterised by a multitude of small, very local suppliers – a large brand like TUI can provide security and reliability as a common platform."

"We have actively used the last few months to further optimise experiences for customers and partners," said Alessandro Petazzi, Chief Growth Officer of TUI Musement. "We have a clear goal; to make more choice more easily accessible to more people." Experiences during a trip are popular, but in recent months there has also been growth in bookings for activities in customers’ hometowns or regions.

"Another trend we see is the growing popularity and demand for digital service via our apps and websites. Our digital service has been expanded in a targeted manner and is now one of the main drivers of customer satisfaction, with the personal, digital service via chat being a customer favourite." Schelp adds.

In addition to digital service, the experiences themselves have also been adapted according to the current situation: 85 percent of all experiences can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before they start. With hygiene and safety standards above the current market standard, a quick restart will be possible during 2021.

All experiences can be booked at tui.com/excursions and via the TUI App.

About TUI Musement

TUI Musement is a global Tours & Activities business that combines a highly curated product portfolio, scalable digital platforms and in-destination service by local teams, to source, develop, distribute and deliver products in three categories:

  • Experiences: Excursions, activities & attraction tickets
  • Transfers: Between airports, hotels and ports
  • Tours: Multi-day itineraries encompassing flights, hotels, experiences and transfers

Available in all major beach and city destinations, products are sourced from leading travel businesses or developed in-house by TUI teams, including the TUI Collection, the flagship experiences portfolio of TUI Group, and National Geographic Day Tours, unique and immersive small group guided experiences.

Products are distributed to customers, including the 19+ million TUI customers, through TUI websites and apps – such as the Tours & Activities dedicated TUI Musement app, as well as in-destination local teams and B2B partners, including some of the world's leading OTAs, tour operators, airlines, hotels, travel agencies and cruise lines. TUI Musement is one of the major growth areas of the TUI Group and employs approximately 7,000 people worldwide.

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.