Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Portugal in the preferences of TUI customers for this year's holidays, said the company's CEO, Fritz Usen, who expects tourism activity to take off this summer.
Tui, the world's largest travel group, predicts a resumption of tourism traffic in the summer, which will help alleviate its own economic downturn from the downturn in pandemic activity. In the last quarter of 2020, the group recorded losses (before interest and taxes, EBIT) of 699 million euros. TUI has secured support from the German government to survive. As it announced, its assets amount to 2.1 billion euros. “This is sufficient until the summer, when the activity takes off in the summer,” the company's chief executive, Fritz Usen, told reporters.
He even adds that in view of this summer, those interested are turning to classic destinations: Spain, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus and Portugal, in other words “Mediterranean first”. According to the representative of the travel giant, it is not excluded that we will see air tickets for the Mediterranean countries become a surprise.
“As vaccinations and coronavirus tests progress, the road to travel will open faster,” Bild writes. “A travel explosion is expected this summer.” The newspaper quotes German government tourism official Thomas Bryce as saying that Germans have a strong appetite for travel.
In Britain, however, which is Tui's largest market, along with Germany, the government is constantly warning people not to book trips abroad for the summer and is in the process of tightening border controls.
Tui said it is ready to restart in the coming weeks and has 2.8 million bookings for the summer, adding that customers are likely to make bookings much closer to their departure date this year.
Progress on the UK vaccination program is expected to contribute to bookings, according to the company. TUI shares fell 1% yesterday to 326 pence (26 3.26) and have lost 40% of their value in the last 12 months. Jefferies analysts say TUI's net debt stands at 7.2 billion euros and warned that cancellations for the summer holidays could be painful.
Forbes: European countries promote vaccination passports, including Cyprus
Last month, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she supported the creation of a common vaccination certificate established by the EU so that it could be issued by Member States to their citizens. In this way, he responded to a letter from the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in which he called on the European Commission to introduce a standard vaccination certificate, in order to facilitate travel within the European Union bloc.
At the same time, some Member States of the European Union will sooner or later issue their own certificates to citizens who have been vaccinated against Covid-19. On 21 January, Iceland became the first European country to issue Covid-19 vaccination certificates to its citizens receiving two doses of the vaccine. Iceland will recognize similar vaccination certificates issued by any EU or Schengen country.
This week, two other Nordic countries, Denmark and Sweden, announced that they would provide digital passports that would not only allow vaccinated citizens to travel but also dine in restaurants and attend events such as concerts and festivals.
Spain is also optimistic and supportive of the idea of a health passport. The Portuguese Interior Minister has also stated that the issuance of vaccination passports will be an easier case than the implementation of prohibition measures against the pandemic. Cyprus is on the same wavelength, announcing that it will abolish health requirements for travelers, such as quarantine, who could prove they had been vaccinated.
Poland also released a digital vaccine passport last month. Citizens receiving two doses of the vaccine receive a confirmation document with a unique QR code, which is available from the traveler's personal health account.
The World Health Organization agrees with this idea, and is also working on a vaccination certification solution that can be developed worldwide. The WHO position is that vaccination passports would be more useful than current protocols, which certify that someone has recovered from the disease and has antigens.
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