Market ‘remains challenging and highly competitive’ says Kuoni
The business environment remains ‘challenging and highly competitive’, Kuoni said in its trading update today.
The operator said booking numbers for the tour operating activities that are up for sale, which includes the UK operation, were down 8% in the first five months of the year.
It did not give a specific breakdown for the UK business, but said: "In a persistently difficult market environment in Scandinavia/Finland, the booking trend improved slightly, but sales fell mainly because of a significant decrease in flight capacities.
"While the India, Hong Kong/China and Benelux markets performed well, the Swiss market suffered from the removal of the floor on the euro/franc exchange rate. Discounts and reduced flight capacities led to lower bookings compared with the same period in the previous year."
It said it plans to find a buyer for the tour operations in 2015, but did not give any more details of how the sales were progressing.
It has been reported that a handful of potential buyers, all private equity firms, remain in the running for the UK business.
Meanwhile, Kuoni reported positive growth for its Global Travel Distribution Division (GTD), especially in Asia/Pacific region.
Bookings made on the GTD Division’s booking platforms for room nights in hotels and destination services were up 12% in local currency terms.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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