Palma de Mallorca, 28 September 2020

TUI Group accelerates transformation and growth of its Tours & Activities platform

  • Investment in open platform for Tours & Activities suppliers and customers
  • “TUI Musement” set up for growth in the attractive Tours & Activities market

TUI Group, the world’s leading tourism group, is accelerating the transformation and growth of its Tours & Activities businesses, which form TUI Musement.

Previously known as TUI Destination Experiences, which included the independently operated Musement business, the new TUI Musement will create value for its suppliers and customers by rolling out a unique digital platform+ model, which combines a scalable digital platform for sourcing, producing and distributing Tours & Activities, with curated service delivery in more than 50 countries worldwide. Newly integrated teams will focus on specialist areas, such as business development and supply management, enabling TUI Musement to combine and capitalize on the existing expertise.

Open platform for Tours & Activities suppliers and customers

TUI Musement acts as an open platform for Tours & Activities suppliers and clients. Today TUI Musement offers over 130,000 ‘things to do’ in all major holiday and city destinations worldwide and is heavily investing into expanding its offering by connecting new suppliers. The inventory is distributed to all 21 million TUI customers, through B2B partnerships – such as the recently announced strategic partnership with Booking.com – and B2C through the Musement and TUI websites.

“Musement has been a key driver of our overall growth strategy since the acquisition in 2018.” Said David Schelp, Chief Executive Officer of TUI Musement. “The platform has become a fundamental part of our DNA and we are proud to show this in our new division name TUI Musement. We will continue to invest in our platform capabilities, our supply and our distribution. TUI Musement is ready to work with new suppliers and customers and we are excited about the opportunities we have to create value for, and with, our partners.”

“When a startup is acquired by a larger company, it usually vanishes from public view. With Musement and TUI, the opposite is true. I am very proud that TUI has chosen to fully utilize the Musement digital platform to deliver the growth strategy. By integrating our teams, we are truly creating a Tours & Activities power play, especially in the areas of business development, supply management and customer support.” added Alessandro Petazzi, Co-Founder of Musement and Chief Growth Officer at TUI Musement.

Fit for future growth

Despite the current challenges facing tourism, the Tours & Activities market continues to be a strategic growth area for TUI Group:

“With these changes we start a new exciting phase of our growth story. We are developing a global Tours & Activities leader, which will be in a great market position once Tours & Activities returns to growth.” Said Sebastian Ebel, Member of the TUI Group Executive Board.

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 Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, in the regulated market of the Lower Saxony Stock Exchange in Hanover and in the FTSE 250, an index of the London Stock Exchange. 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 16 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.