TUI achieves first milestone for digitised business model

• Launch of an innovative online portal for B2B customers in Spain
• Strategic move for the TUI Group: Entry in a market with low tour operator presence, creating additional growth momentum
• Technology enables dynamic packaging of package tours including flight, transfer and hotel in real time.
• Integration of TUI Group hotel portfolio into www.tui.com/es

Hanover/Madrid. 
"The TUI Group has reached a first milestone on its way towards digitised business models. The Group has launched its innovative online booking platform at www.tui.com/es(link is external) in Spain, entering the Spanish B2B market for online package tours. The new platform entails real-time availability and price requests and aggregation of components and enables its users to prepare offers for their customers in a considerably faster and more efficient manner. The launch of www.tui.com/es(link is external) in Spain also constitutes a strategic move of the world’s number one integrated leisure tourism group: TUI uses a digital business model to tap a market with a limited presence of TUI tour operators without having to make any significant investments. The Group is planning to tap the potential of these long tail markets in future in order to generate additional turnover growth. Options include, in particular, further expansion to Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in order to leverage synergy effects. TUI thus consistently continues its growth phase. Sebastian Ebel, CEO Platforms of the TUI Group said at FITUR in Madrid: “The new online platform is an important strategic step. We are tapping new markets for TUI. At the same time, we provide travel agencies with an innovative, highly efficient booking platform with more than 20,000 hotels in over 130 countries – a milestone for our B2B customers in Spain. We are thus driving the integration of our online and agency-based distribution further ahead, while securing new turnover sources of the TUI Group.”

TUI’s own hotel portfolio will also be integrated so as to further optimise its occupancy levels through the new online platform. Stefan Dapper, Managing Director TUI Spain: “Apart from travel agencies, the portal can also be used by numerous other B2B customers such as meta search portals, online platforms or white label partners among travel agency customers. Our new platform of TUI Spain offers Spanish users higher speed and a greater variety of search functions. The portal also offers the opportunity to additionally book individual optional components such as transfers, rental cars and excursions in the further course of the booking process under one single booking reference via a shopping basket. This is unique in the Spanish market.”

The Group is planning to generate economies of scales in future by expanding the platform to include other international markets. It is to include Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking countries. 

• Kuzey Alexander Esener
  Group Corporate & External Affairs
  Group Communications / Head of Media Relations
  phone +49 (0) 511 566 6024
  kuzey.esener@tui.com