Peter Long to become TUI chairman
TUI joint chief executive Peter Long is to become chairman of the Group in February 26. He said the following few months would be a transitional period, during which he will pass on experience.
Speaking at a capital markets update yesterday, Long said the recent merger between TUI in the UK and TUI AG in Germany was working well. He said he and joint group CEO and non-executive chairman Friedrich Joussen had a strong working relationship.
"I see the next year as a transitional period, working closely with Friedrich, passing on my experience," said Long.
The immediate focus for the Group, he said, would be growing the business by taking more customers on holiday with its core brands and maximising earners from its specialist brands.
Long said TUI was in a ‘huge position of strength’ with access to 20 million customers, being number one or number two in each of its source markets. He said TUI is planning to grow its long-haul business 50% over the next five years on the back of its expanding fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft.
"We are in a unqiue business position in that we control the end to end customer experience. We have the airplanes and we have unique content in terms of hotels and cruise ships," said Long. "We can go into a destination and own it."
He confirmed earlier yesterday that TUI has put its discounted accommodation arm LateRooms up for sale, but he said TUI had no plans to sell its Specialist Holiday Group. "We have people knocking on the door to buy it, but it’s not up for sale," he said.
TUI also revealed yesterday that it will migrate to a single brand across Europe, ditching Thomson, First Choice and more than 70 other brands in the UK alone.
Joussen said it was his firm belief this was the right move because global brands perform better than local brands online, which is becoming increasingly important to travel companies.
"We will be very careful not to destroy the local brands’ equity, it will be a very staged approach," he said.
The rebrand will start in the Netherlands in September, followed by France, the Belgium and finally the Nordics and the UK.
In the meantime, aircraft will be rebranded TUI when they go for maintenance, said Joussen.
A tui.com/uk website has already been launched to help achieve Google rankings ahead of the rebrand.
"I don’t think [the rebrand] is very risky," said Joussen. "Rebranding gives us a chance to get new customers. All brands age with their customers and become a bit old fashioned, we will use the rebranding to relaunch them. TUI will be a global brand with local roots."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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