TUI Gets More Digital in Aspiring for Reinvention
Skift Take
Travelers in many parts of the world are used to the online booking of build-your-own vacation packages, and others prefer to walk into a travel agency to plan. After many years, TUI is trying to embrace digital trends, and is modestly executing on a plan to get more online.
Dennis' Online Travel Briefing
Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive Editor and online travel rockstar Dennis Schaal will bring readers exclusive reporting and insight into the business of online travel and digital booking, and how this sector has an impact across the travel industry.The knock on TUI Group has always been that the world's largest tour operator was largely an offline business, and out of touch with the modern digital, do-it-yourself booker.
But TUI is bent on transforming its business, and turning itself into a digital platform, and the company has made some modest yet notable progress over the past year. It's all in keeping with digital adoption trends that have been prevalent in a broad expanse of industries, from food delivery to retail, that have been prevalent during the pandemic.
TUI reported Wednesday that 72 percent of its UK bookings were made online in fiscal year 2021, which ended September 30, and that's up 9 percentage points from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. The tour operator, of course, eliminated more than 200 travel agency offices in the UK alone over the past year-plus.
TUI increased its online bookin
