On 7 August, The Economist carried a story, entitled Wishing they weren’t there, in which it claimed that summer is proving a horrible season for Germany’s TUI and the UK’s My Travel and Thomas Cook, which is owned by Lufthansa and KarstadtQuelle.
But the Maltese representatives of these three travel firms expressed their satisfaction that even though the “situation seems alarming outside our shores”, these travel firms are still sending considerable numbers of tourists to visit the Maltese Islands.
Speaking to The Malta Independent, Sam Mifsud, one of the directors of SMS Travel – Thomas Cook’s representatives in Malta, said the number of tourists sent to Malta through Thomas Cook this year is six
per cent higher than last year’s figure.
He mentioned how the travel industry is still picking up
following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States as well as the poor state of the German economy in recent months. He said Thomas Cook, like many other businesses in the world, is going though a restructuring process after a new chief executive officer took office in January.
Mr Mifsud said Thomas Cook sends an average of over 85,000 tourists every year. The travel company operates from seven countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Hungary and Poland, and all these offices send tourists to Malta. The company’s latest office, the one in France, is not yet sending tourists to Malta but will be doing so in the very near future, he said.
According to how it is portrayed in The Economist’s article, TUI, which is described as the market leader, was on a rollercoaster ride because of its large debts, pension liabilities and take-over speculation. Its most pressing worry, claimed the article, is its share price which has lost one-third of its value this year. The write-up goes on to claim that due to the fall in its market capitalisation, the firm faces the humiliation of being removed from the Dax, Germany’s main stock market index.
Referring to rumours of a possible take-over, the article says that TUI “would be a tricky business to take over” in view of its balance sheet, which it described as “not a pretty sight”. The article claims that the group’s debts are an estimated E3.7 billion, which the company aims to reduce by more than half.
TUI’s representative in Malta is Thomson Services Ltd, but for official comments The Malta Independent was referred to Harry Helps, TUI UK’s public relations manager. Mr Helps said he was unable to supply exact figures on Thomson capacity to Malta for competitive reasons.
However, he said, for summer 2005 the company plans to send over 40,000 tourists and another 20,000 in the coming winter. He said these figures are rather stable and there was “no significant change” compared to previous years.
My Travel, the article said, was in an even poorer state than its rivals, sacking staff and cutting its fleet from 30 to 21 aircraft. The article claimed that some people think My Travel would not even survive until next summer.
Edrichton Holidays act as Ground Handling Agents for the My Travel group in Malta. A spokesman for Edrichton Holidays said the number of tourists being sent over to Malta through My Travel has increased substantially this year.
One of the reasons for this increase was the fact that Airtours Sun Cruises, a division of My Travel, placed one of their cruise ships, the MS Sea Wing, in Malta for their Cruise and Stay programme. This programme, the first of its kind in Malta, has been hugely successful, he said, and due recognition has to be given to the support obtained from Viset and the Malta Tourism Authority.
The spokesman also declined to supply figures of tourists sent to Malta through My Travel.
The article concludes that the boss of one big on-line travel agent is predicting that both TUI and Thomas Cook “will be replaced as Europe’s market leaders by internet-based travel firms within five to seven years.” As the article’s heading states, these travel firms might really wish they weren’t there.
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