Experience and entertainment offerings are becoming increasingly important in the travel industry, and TUI wants to be part of this trend – leveraging millions of customer data points to create tailored.

TUI Plans Further Growth – Expanding Hotels, Tours, and Experiences

TUI is planning further expansion, aiming to grow both its hotel portfolio and its range of tours and experiences. In addition to hotels, airplanes, cruise ships, and package holidays, the company is increasingly focusing on its curated marketplace, currently known as Tuimusment.

This platform already offers a variety of activities for booking, and in the future, it could also enable customers to purchase event tickets or reserve a table at a restaurant in their hometown.

TUI’s Chief Strategy Officer, Peter Krüger, outlined these plans in a C-level interview at the ITB Berlin Convetion on Wednesday afternoon. The goal, he explained, is to ensure that customers engage with TUI not just once or twice a year but far more frequently.

Growth in Africa and Indonesia

According to Krüger, TUI is already the largest provider of hotel beds in the Caribbean and has a strong presence in Mediterranean countries.

"We primarily want to expand further in the Southern Hemisphere, with a particular focus on growing our business in East and West Africa as well as Indonesia," he stated. Currently, the company operates or is in the concrete planning stages for 500 hotels.

“We are adopting the strategy of city hotels, which are usually professionally managed, and applying it to the holiday hotel sector. In many cases, hotel owners struggle with professional management, and we see a great opportunity there,” Krüger explained.

Personalized Offers

A key asset of TUI’s vertically integrated business model, which serves around 28 million customers worldwide, is its extensive customer data pool. This allows the company to offer highly personalized travel experiences that go beyond traditional sun-and-beach vacation.

In the future, experiences and activities will likely become the primary driver of travel decisions rather than hotel or beach selection. The industry is shifting towards a greater emphasis on entertainment and unique experiences.

"Experiences are the current trend, but entertainment will play an even bigger role in the future – there’s a lot coming our way," Krüger predicted.

TUI Chief Strategy Officer Peter Krüger: “Experiences are the current trend, in future the entertainment aspect will also become more important.”

Own solar fields in the mountains around Antalya

Well-positioned, he also sees his company in terms of sustainability: TUI operates its own solar fields in the mountains around Antalya, which generate energy for the beach hotels. "These investments usually pay off within four to five years – that's extremely profitable for us“, Krüger said with pleasure.