Turnaround Accomplished.

German Tour Operators 2010

After a slight decline in the crisis-year of 2009 the German tour operator market is back on the growth path. But a few got lost on that road back to recovery.

Germans remain world champions – maybe not in football/soccer but definitely in travel. In 2010 a total of 40.4 million Germans booked an organized vacation – long or short – and accumulated tour operator industry revenue of €21.3 billion ($28.3 billion as per the rate of exchange of 20 December 2010). That’s an increase of 5% in travelers and 2.5% in total revenue.

Air Travel Packages

Air-bound packaged tours, which tumbled almost 5% in the crisis-hit 2008/09 season, managed the turnaround – despite the ash cloud related air space closure in early 2010 the sector grew 3.4%.

Cruises

One of the clear winners of the 2010 season is cruises. The sector grew up to 22%! The two market leaders, Aida and TUI Cruises will roll out new vessels in 2011. Carnival subsidiary Aida cruises was able to increase its market share by 22.2%. TUI Cruises, a new-comer and joint subsidiary of Royal Caribbean and TUI completed their first full 12 months with a 150% revenue increase.

Nicko Tours, who took over seven former Deilmann river cruise ships, were able to increase their 2010 revenue by 31%. Their direct competitor, Arosa river cruises, was able to grow by 30%. Only two cruise companies had to report slight revenue losses: MSC and Hapag-Lloyd.

Self-Drive

Self-drive vacations are on the fast lane as well. They grew an average of 2.4% in 2010.

Tour Operators

TUI remains on the top spot on the list of total revenue generated – but with a reduction of 2.1% compared to the previous year. Had TUI not sold the point-to-point city flights business to Air Berlin the loss would even have accumulated to 8%. However, the Hanover based travel giant managed to increase their profits.

Thomas Cook, number three in the market following the REWE group was able to grow revenues by 9.6%. Most of this increase is owed to their acquisition of Öger Tours, whose 2010 revenue was an estimated €300 million ($399 million). Thomas Cook’s market share rose by 0.9% - and profits increased, too.

30 of the 49 tour operators surveyed report increases in pre-tax profit.

Sunny Times Ahead

The German travel market, the largest in Europe, hasn’t looked as promising and hasn’t been as confident as for the 2011 season for a long time. Winter 2010/11 bookings so far are up in the double-digits. And travel agents are most satisfied with the current state of summer bookings.

45 of 64 tour operators expect a2011 revenue growth of 10% and more – and that’s not including the five largest tour operators that are listed on the stock exchanges and are therefore prohibited from publishing such projections. But market research analysts expect them to grow by three to seven percent. TUI has increased their flight capacities for the 2011 summer season by 6%.

Largest growth potential is in the cruise sector, which has already grown from only 380,000 German passengers p.a. in 2000 to 1.66 million in 2010.

Registered users will soon be able to view the complete statistics.

Source: fvw