Articles tagged “europe”

Those headline fines were pretty jaw-dropping, but it seems more than likely that they will be massively reduced whenever they are finally rubber-stamped.

The good news is that airfares aren't set for a major increase in 2020. The bad news is that a softening in the financial outlook for global businesses is the likely cause.

Not only is TUI making a big bet on its own branded hotels, it wants to try and get independent hotels onto its new digital platform. How many are really going to want to get involved, and might it be better to try to fix its underperforming tour operator division?

Boris Johnson wants to get Brexit done, but in reality leaving the European Union will be a long and arduous process — and ultimately leave the country poorer. It's going to be a rocky few years for the UK's travel and tourism industry.

TUI continues to have ambitious plans, and its quest to move away from the traditional tour operating market seems sensible given the problems endured by one of its biggest competitors. But good intentions often get derailed by outside circumstances. Can it stay the course in 2020?

Another big news day for Norwegian. Given the focus on profitability, exiting the difficult domestic market in Argentina is not really surprising, but the appointment of Marty St. George is certainly a curveball.

With one of the biggest names in UK travel exiting the market, there's space for other travel firms to pick up some of the travel demand. It's not going to be easy with plenty of Brexit uncertainty in the market as well as lots of competition.

Interestingly, new Norwegian Air chief Jacob Schram has plenty of experience dealing with takeovers and mergers from his time in the retail trade. Might Norwegian want to tap this experience as part of future plans?

European tourism may, broadly speaking, be in growth mode. But there is still plenty of cause for guarded optimism, particularly when it comes to Germany and the UK.

Understandably, CEO Clare Gilmartin didn't want to play up moves into other travel areas too much at such an early stage, but we'll be keeping a close eye on how the company evolves over the next few years as it looks to diversify away from rail tickets and make more money in other areas.