Hotelplan Group has exceeded pre-Corona level
Published: Wednesday, Jan 31st 2024, 09:20
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The tour operator Hotelplan has finally put the slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic behind it. In the past 2022/23 financial year (as at the end of October), the Migros subsidiary increased its turnover by a fifth to CHF 1.73 billion.
The Hotelplan Group announced in a press release on Wednesday that it had thus exceeded the last pre-coronavirus year 2018/19 by almost half. If the takeover of online vacation provider Vtours is included, turnover would have increased by 2.5 percent compared to 2018/2019.
"We have left the pandemic behind us," explained Group CEO Laura Meyer. Customers were very keen to travel. All business units had improved their turnover compared to the previous year.
Beach vacation boom continues
Demand for individual travel at Hotelplan Suisse has risen sharply in recent months. Train travel has also been in greater demand. Hotelplan Suisse improved its turnover to 227.7 million francs in the last financial year, compared with 158.2 million the previous year.
The boom in beach vacations and city breaks was even greater than in the previous year, according to the report. Turnover in the Tour Operating volume climbed by 22 percent to 857.6 million francs.
The vacation home and apartment provider Interhome achieved a new record result, wrote the Hotelplan Group. Turnover increased by 5 percent to 389.7 million Swiss francs. The reason for this was the further expansion of the distribution network on various online channels. The trend towards working in vacation destinations also contributed to the improved result.
Brits are traveling more often again
Hotelplan UK, which brings the British to Switzerland for their vacations, also saw an upturn. All of the subsidiary's brands recorded an increase in turnover. The realignment of the summer offer has had an effect. Turnover rose by 41 percent to 212.4 million pounds (233 million Swiss francs).
Demand for business travel also continued to rise and, after a slower recovery, is approaching the 2019 level again, the Migros subsidiary wrote. The two business travel providers BTA First Travel and Finass Reisen gained numerous new customers. Turnover at BTA First Travel increased by 37 percent to 10.3 million. At Finass, there was an increase of a fifth to 6.7 million francs.
Positive start to 2024
The new financial year 2023/24 got off to a good start: Incoming bookings are above both 2023 and 2019.
However, the outlook is only cautiously optimistic. "Although the great pent-up demand following the pandemic is largely over, travel remains an important need," explained Hotelplan Group CEO Meyer. It remains to be seen to what extent the geopolitical situation, the rising cost of living and the general economic situation will influence the willingness to travel.
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