In the latest news from TUI Group, the company wants to assure the public of the big bookings the company has already secured and the total liquidity of the touring giant. At least this is to paraphrase a news release from the German tours company. But the real news reads like an SOS from RMS Titanic to me.
According to the TUI TUI has published trends in current bookings for summer 2021 as part of its Annual General Meeting including how counties’ COVID responses have urged travelers to take advantage of the company’s stellar safety reputation.
Since everybody on the planet knows huge corporations care more than individual people or even the family priest, I am sure everybody reading this news release is going to rush to the TUI website to book passage to Greece immediately! Whether or not Greeks are out of lockdown by the time TUI ships and planes land at the summer paradise, is a secondary consideration for the corporate wobble heads in Hanover. But let’s continue with the good news…
TUI goes on to say, that out of the goodness of its stockholders’ bulging hearts, that the company has made special arrangements for Easter travel to take place! If only Dieter Zetsche could hire the Easter bunny as a mascot, I am sure everyone in Europe would be lined up to board TUI aircraft bound for their ancestral lands. The following passage from the company bears special consideration:
“All current holiday offers are geared towards relaxation, beach walks, and the conscious experience of nature. TUI’s safety and hygiene programs at the holiday destination are of the same high standard as the measures taken by governments in the European source markets.”
I wonder if the company considers the totally mucked up vaccine programs in the EU as being the “high standard” to which the company will adhere? Well, after going through load capacity and some financial mumbo-jumbo, the TUI PR people say the company’s ultimate “goal remains safe and responsible holidays with very high standards of hygiene during travel.” Gee, I wonder if delivering people to Hell on a ship full of vaccinated passengers seems like a responsible holiday value? What if the Greeks or the Spaniards are in open revolt over lockdowns by the time TUI ships arrive?
Maybe I am being too harsh? Nah! These people brought it upon themselves lobbying every government in Europe and abroad to cram TUI tourists down our throats. Anyway, at the end of the TUI news, the real subject is that as of 22 March 2021, TUI had cash and available facilities of 1.6 billion euros. So, the company has a few more months of leeway to operate before it goes belly up, or before the German government pours in more taxpayer euros to save it.
So, the short version is – “We are hanging on, and if we can urge people to book no matter what, there’s a chance TUI can survive.” TUI lost something like 8 billion euros in revenue last year, and stocks are only worth about 20% of what they were in 2018. Rupert Hargreaves, of Compass Group, says TUI (LSE: TUI) share price is currently one of the riskiest in the UK. So there. In addition, Bloomberg reports that despite TUI’s upbeat projections, the company fully expects a resurgence of COVID problems for summer. Finally, Friedrich Joussen offloading shares when they jumped up recently, caught the experts’ eyes as well.