TUI to Launch New Experiences Aimed at Locals

TUI, Europe's largest travel operator, has announced it’s partnering with the entertainment platform Fever to launch a new collection of activities aimed at local people in their home countries. 

The new product is a strategic step in the group’s aim to become the “leading provider of leisure activities for customers year-round”, both while travelling abroad and at home. 

While TUI is known to customers for annual holidays and city breaks, TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel said the group had refined its business strategy in recent months and is now “moving into a new phase where we can be the day-to-day partner for leisure activities at home.” 

Musement, the experiences division of TUI Group, offers thousands of experiences already including tours of the Vaitcan, the Pyramids of Egypt, and 4x4 adventures in Madeira, however, the new "Experiences for Locals" offering will be targeted at non-travellers in their home cities.

It will include activities outside of typical tourism options. For food enthusiasts, offerings will include Afrobeats-themed brunch and Sicilian cooking classes. For art enthusiasts, neon painting workshops and yoga surrounded by artwork at the Van Gogh Immersive Exhibition will be available. 

More than 350 activities are available at 40 locations across the UK and Germany, such as London, Manchester, Berlin, and Hamburg.

Residents in the UK and Germany can now browse and instantly book the activities through the TUI or TUI Musement apps and websites. 

“Traditionally, excursions, activities and attraction tickets are the ideal products to complement a holiday and we are thrilled that we are able now to offer local experiences at our customers' home cities,” Peter Krueger, chief strategy officer at TUI Group said.

“We want to sell things other people cannot sell,” Krueger said, adding:  “Before, people were saying ‘where should we go?’ Now, they are saying ‘what should we do?’”

TUI Group's revenue grew 12% last year to about $24.4 billion (€23.2 billion) and net profit gained 66% to $533 million (€507 million). The company served 20.3 million customers, a 7% increase. It had expanded its hotels portfolio, with new properties in emerging markets like Vietnam, Malaysia and China. 

Its new deal with Fever meant TUI could now target domestic customers and provide the company with a sales opportunity "365 days a year,” Peter Ulwahn, CEO of TUI Musement said. 

This latest offering taps into the trend of people supplementing their holidays abroad with more frequent domestic travel and stay-cations, and with Generation Z and Millennials’ preference of experiences over material goods.

“We are inviting local residents to break the routine, explore new interests, discover hidden gems and enjoy some ‘wow moments’ closer to home,” Ulwahn said.

The experiences are crafted for families, couples and friends, and include day trips or short activities in a person’s hometown. It will also provide repeat visitors to London, Berlin and other cities with an “alternative range” of activity options. 

Fever’s CEO Ignacio Bachiller said the app’s partnership with TUI was an “exciting step” in transforming “the way travellers engage with destinations”.