Thinkstock fvw survey German tour operators predict better business in 2018 Tour operators in Germany are optimistic about higher sales this year, with many predicting revenue growth of more than 5%, an fvw survey found. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Oliver Roesler CEO interview Sun Express improves results and expands operations The Turkish-German leisure airline grew about 10% in 2017, and is adding planes and routes for summer 2018, CEO Jens Bischof told fvw in an interview. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, January 09, 2018
Holger Peters Fotografie German aviation market Thomas Cook buys Air Berlin unit as airlines eye growth chances Leisure airlines Condor, Eurowings, Easyjet, Vueling, TUIfly, SunExpress and Germania all aim to profit this year from the insolvencies of Air Berlin and Niki through a mix of acquisitions, fleet expansion and new routes – while even LTU could be resurrected one decade after disappearing from the market. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, January 04, 2018
Dreamstime German tourism market trends Optimistic outlook for 2018 after solid growth in 2017 The German tourism industry is looking ahead optimistically to 2018 after overcoming setbacks such as airline and tour operator insolvencies to generate solid low growth last year. ...more by Paul Needham – Wednesday, January 03, 2018
André Lenthe Airline sale IAG snaps up Niki to expand Vueling in German-speaking markets Budget airline Vueling will gain a major foothold in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with the takeover of insolvent grounded airline Niki for just €36.5 million. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Thomas Cook Thomas Cook Group Burmeister outlines hotel expansion plans Thomas Cook Group aims to expand its hotel portfolio, manage more properties itself and increase tour operator sales of own brands, hotels chief Ingo Burmeister told fvw in an interview. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, January 02, 2018
Niki Air Niki Bidders queue up for slot-rich insolvent leisure airline Niki Lauda, Thomas Cook, TUIfly, Ryanair and several other companies are poised to make binding offers today for Niki, the insolvent Austrian carrier sitting on lucrative slots at crowded German airports, following the collapse of Lufthansa’s takeover bid. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, December 21, 2017
lastminute group Online travel portals Lastminute.com buys Weg.de to expand on German tourism market Swiss-based OTA Lastminute.com is buying one of Germany’s larger online travel portals, Weg.de, from German TV group ProSiebenSat1 for €12 million to expand in Europe’s largest tourism market. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, December 21, 2017
Condor Airline insolvency German airlines fly home stranded Niki passengers Airlines have launched extra flights to transport Niki passengers back to Germany over the next few weeks while tour operators are busy re-booking customers with later departures on to other carriers. ...more by Paul Needham – Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Andre Springer Switzerland TUI buys cruise holidays portal TUI is expanding in Switzerland with the takeover of Cruisetour, the country’s leading cruise sales agent, in its latest cruise sector investment. ...more by Paul Needham – Monday, December 18, 2017
Niki Air Leisure airline insolvency German tour operators seek replacement flights after Niki grounding German tour operators and airlines are urgently working on alternative flight plans after leisure airline Niki dramatically declared insolvency last night and stopped all flights as of today, leaving 40,000 passengers stranded abroad. The collapse came after Lufthansa pulled out of a takeover deal due to European Commission objections. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, December 14, 2017
Rüdiger Nehmzow 2016/17 results TUI profits from hotels and cruises but Germany takes a hit Strong results from hotels and cruises, lower profits in Germany and a good start to winter 2017/18 bookings were the key points of TUI Group’s annual results. ...more by Paul Needham – Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Klaus Hildebrandt Annual conference DRV criticises taxes and surveys industry terms The German travel industry association DRV has renewed its criticism of two controversial ‘taxes’, confirmed the importance of traditional travel terms in a survey and unveiled a new slogan. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Klaus Hildebrandt DRV annual conference Egypt and Greece are winners of 2017 on German travel market Tour operators and travel agents in Germany generated solid growth this year, while Egypt and Greece were the two big winners among major destinations, according to the German Travel Association (DRV). ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, December 12, 2017
Lenthe/touristik-foto.de JT Touristik Lidl snaps up insolvent German tour operator Discount supermarket group Lidl will take over insolvent tour operator JT Touristik to expand its travel retail activities. ...more by Paul Needham – Tuesday, December 12, 2017
FTI Hoteliers conference FTI chief plans investments in Turkey Dietmar Gunz wants to expand FTI’s business in Turkey with new investments and is urging measures to restore German travel agents’ confidence in selling the destination. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, December 07, 2017
NIKI Niki Lufthansa makes big concessions to Brussels Lufthansa is offering wide-ranging concessions to the European Commission in order to gain rapid approval for its takeover of leisure airline Niki. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, December 07, 2017
Michael Penner German aviation market Easyjet and Ryanair target Tegel Easyjet is set to launch domestic and European flights from Berlin’s largest airport in January while Ryanair hopes to follow from March onwards. ...more by Paul Needham – Wednesday, December 06, 2017
Best Reisen German travel agents Best-Reisen focuses on differentiation with exclusive offers and branded holidays One of Germany’s leading travel agency cooperation groups, Best-Reisen, wants to improve its profile and respond to digitalisation of the travel industry with a mix of differentiated products and services. ...more by Paul Needham – Wednesday, December 06, 2017
Niki Air German aviation market Will Lufthansa get Niki or not? The European Commission is considering blocking Lufthansa’s takeover of leisure airline Niki to prevent subsidiary Eurowings from dominating the German holiday flights market. ...more by Paul Needham – Thursday, November 30, 2017
