The tourism group gives travelers hope for a relaxed summer holiday despite the chaos in airport handling.

"Despite all the challenges due to staff shortages in the industry, the holidays will go smoothly for the vast majority," said the German boss of the travel group, Stefan Baumert. Unlike some airlines such as Lufthansa, the group's own airline Tuifly does not want to cancel any flights. The flight plan remains in place, as do plans for additional reserve aircraft at peak times. Baumert recommended that it is often worth changing the airport to start your holiday from a federal state in which holidays have not yet started.

According to the manager, demand for summer travel has increased significantly in recent weeks and is “consistently above 2019 levels”. "We are catching up rapidly and are more than confident that we will see summer business this year that will approach 2019," Baumert reiterated earlier expectations. Bookings for the months of September and October have also been rising sharply for a few days.

Tui cannot tell that people are holding back on bookings because of problems with handling at airports. There is also no evidence that customers with the so-called flex tariffs are increasingly using the option to rebook or cancel free of charge up to 15 days before departure. "They want everyone on vacation," Baumert said. "But we're seeing record numbers of calls to our customer hotlines."

After more than two years of the corona pandemic, classic travel destinations are particularly in demand, especially around the Mediterranean, especially Turkey. Antalya has therefore moved to second place behind Mallorca. Greece will also continue to be in strong demand. "Crete is heading for a record season," reported Baumert. Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt are also currently making strong gains. When it comes to car trips, the main focus is on the German Baltic Sea coast and the northern Italian lakes.