Joussen said “unaided awareness” rates for Tui as a brand among UK consumers had risen to 44%, which has driven higher rates of online traffic and bookings since the rebrand.
But he admitted that part of this increase will also have been helped by the demise of Monarch Airlines in October.
“Online traffic and bookings are up in the UK,” added Joussen. “Is that as a result of the rebrand or other factors as well? Monarch went insolvent.
“But having more online traffic and bookings is a very good result when we have just been in the market with a new brand for four months.
“The UK bookings have also been good in the high street. The overall booking situation is pretty good. We’re taking market share – that’s clear with one player less. The UK situation is quite good.”
Joussen added that he was “not fussed” about whether bookings came through its online platforms or via its high street shops. But stressed that increasing direct bookings was the most important factor.
He said Tui would be prepared to open more shops if that’s where customers wanted to book but added that the “general trend is more online”.
Joussen’s comments came as Tui revealed a 4% fall in UK bookings for the current winter 2017/18 season with average selling prices up by 8%, due to the weakness of the pound.
For summer 2018, Tui has so far sold 41% of its programme with bookings down 1% and average prices rising by 3% year-on-year.
Marella Cruises, formerly Thomson Cruises, boosted Tui’s first quarter results with a 31% rise in passenger days to 691,800 year-on-year due to the introduction of Marella Discovery 2 in May 2017 while average daily rates rose 5.7% to £129.
“When I look into booking, I’m optimistic,” he added. “The change in price was the issue, not the level of price. When a customer goes to Spain and it costs an extra 10%, that’s not good.
“The demand seems to be very resilient. But when the price goes up, they think about different product.”
