TUI raises profit forecast
TUI bookings for summer 2015 are up 11% in the UK with average selling prices up 2%.
The travel giant said sales of unique holidays are up 12% compared with this time last year and account for 84% of holidays sold to date, broadly in line with last year.
To date 16% of the summer 2015 programme has been sold.
Meanwhile, winter 2014/15 bookings are up 5% and average selling prices are up 2%.
"We continue to see strong demand for our unique holidays, which have increased by 7% and account for 84% of bookings, up three percentage points," it said in a pre-close trading update today.
"In particular, we are seeing high demand for long-haul destinations such as Jamaica and Mexico, driven by the expansion of our 787 Dreamliner fleet.
"Online bookings for winter 2014/15 are up 11%, accounting for 47% of bookings, up three percentage points on prior year."
To date, around 34% of the winter programme has been sold.
Chief executive Peter Long said: "We are very pleased with our trading during the summer 2014 peak season, particularly in the UK and Germany, with most of our programmes now almost fully sold.
"Our strong trading and market performance continues to be driven by increased customer demand for unique holidays and higher conversion rates from our web platforms, driven by our digital transformation strategy.
"Our flexible and resilient business model is enabling us to deliver sustainable, profitable growth against a backdrop of more competitive trading in the commodity space and an increase in airline capacity.
"As a result of our successful strategy, we are confident of achieving full year underlying operating profit growth of at least 9% on a constant currency basis, versus our previous guidance of 7% to 10%."
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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