Europeans are booking fewer trips to the US, Europe’s biggest travel operator has said, as appetite for long-haul travel wanes and concerns linger around Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Tui, which receives most of its bookings from customers in Europe, has seen “significantly lower demand” for travel into the US, according to its chief executive, Sebastian Ebel.
“What we do see is growing business to the Emirates and Asia,” he said. “We also see European demand to the Caribbean, which – due to capacity – had not been the biggest priority in the past, but there we see now potential again to grow.”
It comes amid signs that demand for long-haul travel across the Atlantic is waning.
A report by the European Travel Commission, which surveyed travellers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea and the US, found 42% of long-haul travellers were considering a trip to Europe this year, down from 45% last year. In the US, 34% intended to travel to Europe, down from 37%.
In Europe, several countries have issued advisories about travel to the US owing to stricter border scrutiny, the detention of some visitors and protests over the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Since Trump took office, reports have emerged from the US border of tourists being detained and interrogated, people with work permits sent to ICE detention centres and people being wrongly deported.
Overseas visits to the US from western Europe were down 4% in December compared with the same month last year, according to the US National Travel and Tourism Office.
Last year, Ebel said Tui had seen a “significant decline” in travel to the US, owing to a multitude of factors including “the atmosphere, what you hear from border control”.
While demand for US holidays has been weaker, Tui hailed its best first quarter in just over a decade.
The German travel operator, which is headquartered in Hanover and employs about 67,000 people around the world, reported a 1% rise in revenue to €4.9bn (£4.3bn) in the quarter ending in December, and a 7.5% rise in operating profit to €72.9m.
Aarin Chiekrie, an analyst at the investment broker Hargreaves Lansdown, said much of the success came from its cruise business, where profits rose by more than 70%.
“Consumers continue to prioritise travel, which has seen Tui’s occupancy rates rise despite its fleet expansion,” he said. “All other business segments saw profitability improve over the period, except hotels and resorts, which suffered a double-digit decline due to losses resulting from the Jamaican hurricane, and the non-repeat of some one-off benefits last year.”
Shares in Tui, which is listed in Frankfurt, ticked up 0.4% in early trading on Tuesday. The stock has risen by about 10% in the past year.
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