XL’s loss is TUI, Thomas Cook’s gain
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Europe’s two largest travel companies, TUI Travel and Thomas Cook, look set to reap the benefits of the collapse of UK rival, XL Leisure Group.
Bloomberg has reported that XL’s demise will cut the supply of UK package holidays by about 7%. In addition to planned capacity reductions by TUI and Thomas Cook, the total number of package trips available in the UK may drop by 20% in 2009, Bloomberg reported industry analysts as predicting.
“We see TUI Travel and Thomas Cook as clear beneficiaries of (XL’s) announcement,” Investec analyst Joseph Thomas wrote. Thomas added that the likely reduction in capacity is “clearly helpful in an industry that faces obvious consumer uncertainty next year.”
Meanwhile Tim Ram skill, from market analysts Dresdner Kleinwort, said that XL’s collapse was “great news for the industry.” Although those holidaymakers left stranded and out-of-pocket by the XL situation probably wouldn’t share his view.
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