Especially in times of an ongoing pandemic, travellers need security and trust. This speaks in favour of the package tour: no other form of travel offers comparable consumer protection standards. Thanks to its integrated business model, TUI assumes responsibility from booking to return flight. TUI is always there for its guests – also through its own teams in almost all holiday regions. 

With our safety and hygiene concept, we have been setting standards for the tourism industry in the pandemic for over a year. In June 2020, for example, TUI developed hygiene and safety standards together with the governments of Greece, Cyprus and the Balearic Islands and successfully tested them in pilot projects. TUI also pioneered safe cruise concepts in the industry. With success: to date, the measures ensure a 7-day incidence rate of less than 1 per 100,000 holidaymakers among TUI guests. In addition, the travel group has created innovative offers in the short term. COVID Protect insurance and flex rates for free rebooking ensure security even after booking. The 2.5 million customers in 2020 rewarded this: satisfaction with the holiday experience was 8.6 on a scale of 1 to 10. The value is stable compared to the previous year – a great success in view of the special circumstances during the coronavirus pandemic. 

In crises such as the first lockdown in March 2020, TUI Group demonstrates its agility and responsibility in a special way. In a very short time, TUI flew around 200,000 people back to their home countries and also provided capacity for other countries and tourism companies. As a tour operator, we offer the highest level of safety along the entire travel chain. This is not the case with so-called modular tours: Here, the risks and costs of repatriation actions lie with holidaymakers and governments.

Nevertheless, the insolvency of Thomas Cook in 2019 in particular showed that until then the insolvency protection of some tour operators was incomplete. In response, new travel insurance funds have been launched in Germany in November 2021. We support the aim and the instrument. The implementation is a major financial challenge for the industry right now. The clear premise of politics should therefore be not to create expensive competitive disadvantages for tour operators compared to travel module providers. Together with policymakers, we at TUI continue to work on making affordable and safe family holidays possible.