Posted on 30 September, 2011 by Spacejunkie2

Princess to have 45% of capacity in Europe next year

By Donna Tunney

Princess Cruises took the wraps off of its 2012 Europe program. The line will deploy seven ships, about 45% of its capacity, to the region next year with 125 departures and 57 itineraries.

Highlights include the European debut of the 3,100-passenger Caribbean Princess and a new 14-day Baltic Heritage itinerary, operating roundtrip from London with calls at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk and Oslo.

Across the fleet, overnight port calls are featured in Turkey, Italy, Russia, Egypt and Israel. Two new ports will debut during the season — Korcula, Croatia, and Nessebar, Bulgaria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

Posted on 22 September, 2011 by Spacejunkie2

Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

Sep 22, 2011 08:00AM GMT

Thomas Cook to close 24 shops across UK

Thomas Cook has begun a 90-day consultation with more than 100 staff after announcing plans to close 24 high street shops around the country.

The company said 22 of the closures were because of leases expiring and two because shops were making a loss. Outlets are to close in towns as far apart as Northampton, Bangor, Cleethorpes and Stirling.

Ian Ailles, Thomas Cook UK mainstream chief executive, said the firm’s shop network was constantly under review.

“Our high street stores are the most popular way for customers to book with us and an essential part of our multi-channel approach, alongside websites and sales centres,” he said.

“However, there are times, like today, when we will propose closing a small number of individual stores to remain effective in this competitive environment.

“We will do all that we can to minimise the impact on affected customers and colleagues.”

The staff consultation is one of three under way at the company. The group is in a formal consultation with Thomas Cook Airlines staff in Manchester where it plans 250 job cuts as it axes six aircraft from the UK fleet for this winter.

Thomas Cook is also consulting 400 call centre staff who handle holiday bookings in Peterborough and Falkirk on shift changes. The company wants call centre employees to work later, taking calls up to 10pm, and on Sundays.

The shop closures come ahead of a loss of about 75 outlets expected to result from the joint-venture merger with The Co-op and Midlands Co-op Travel.

Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

Posted on 22 September, 2011 by Spacejunkie2

Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

Sep 22, 2011 07:50AM GMT

Summer lates boost keeps Tui Travel on course

A strong performance in this summer’s lates market has helped Tui Travel keep on course to meet its full year expectations.

Improved margins for late sales in the UK and Germany have helped boost Europe’s largest travel group. Winter 2011/12 trading to date is described as “satisfactory” overall with differentiated holidays performing well, particularly in the UK and Nordic regions.

Winter capacity has been cut by 7% from the UK to Egypt and Tunisia following political upheaval in North Africa. This has helped push the average selling price up by 6%, also reflecting higher fuel and accommodation costs.

Differentiated holiday sales are up by 7% year on year while the percentage of online sales has grown by three percentage points to 37%. The group has sold 10% of it summer 2012 programme from the UK, described as being broadly in line with last year.

Bookings are currently 11% down, partly reflecting a 4% drop in capacity, while average selling prices are up by 10%.

“Margin performance is a key driver for the group. We anticipate that in the UK, cost inflation will be just over 5% for summer 2012 and our prices are designed to recover these input costs in this competitive market,” the company said in a trading update today.

Chief executive Peter Long said: “We are pleased with our performance in the lates market for summer 2011, and most of our programmes are now almost fully sold.

“We remain confident that the full year results will be in line with our expectations. Trading for winter 2011/12 is satisfactory overall, but we are anticipating a slow recovery in trading to Egypt and Tunisia, and have managed our capacity accordingly.”

He added: “Our focus remains on differentiated product, maintaining margins, prudent capacity management, and delivering our turnaround and cost savings programme. The flexibility of our business model means that we are well placed to achieve this.”