NEWS 1
YOU NEED TO KNOW
Sören Hartmann: ‘We have to
invest in more [Kuoni] shops and in the tour operating business’
AT A GLANCE The German market
Kuoni owner DER Touristik has 2,100 agencies and multiple tour operators in Germany, selling mass-market packages as well as specialist long-haul and tailor-made holidays. The German outbound market is bigger than the UK’s. So how is summer 2016
Kuoni’s new owner vows to retain brand and invest
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
Kuoni’s German owner DER Touristik said the UK brand would retain its “individuality”, following its €110 million takeover last September.
In an exclusive interview with
Travel Weekly, the company’s chief executive Sören Hartmann said he was “totally against centralisation”. He pledged to invest in the UK, opening more shops and building the tour operating business. “We will not centralise things,” said Hartmann. “We’ll keep the different brands. We’ll keep the individuality of the different markets. We are trying to be close to clients. We are not about having
one brand, having centralised everything. You can’t compare us with Tui or Thomas Cook.” Referring to Kuoni UK head
Derek Jones, Hartmann insisted: “Derek is responsible with his team for all the activities in the UK and it will stay like this.” Asked what changes staff might see, he said: “None. I don’t have the feeling we need to change something.” Describing DER Touristik as
“a partner with a good financial base”, he said: “We are willing to invest in the UK. We have to invest in more shops, we have to invest in the tour operating business, and that is what Derek will do.” DER Touristik is an umbrella
brand in Germany where it’s a major operator and retailer, but it has no plans to extend this to the
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travelweekly.co.uk 28 January 2016
“We are not about having one brand, having centralised everything”
UK. Hartmann said: “It’s not a tour operating brand. It just appears as an endorsement in Germany. At the moment, Kuoni is the stronger brand in the UK. I wouldn’t see any sense in it [in the UK]. Derek can show suppliers and everybody that he belongs to a strong group if it makes sense.” At the same time, Hartmann
stressed the value of high street agents to a group that has 2,100 agencies in Germany. “We strongly believe in shops on the level Kuoni has in the UK.
viewed from Germany? Sören Hartmann, DER Touristik chief executive, said: “The market is a little down. We have a lot of crises. People are interested in holidays – all our market research says they will go, but they will book later. “Long-haul destinations are running well. Spain is fantastic, Italy fantastic. Majorca is a big plus; it was full last year and will be full earlier this year. “We are not minus overall. But somebody who used to go to Turkey, Egypt or Tunisia has to think about a new destination, so it takes longer and they book later. Mass-market prices for Turkey will go down.”
People spend a lot of money and want a recommendation,” he said. The group is running what it describes as “a huge TV campaign” in Germany to promote its ‘expert network’ and is close to rolling out an in-house system for connecting an agent in one shop to a customer in another.
“This is the core idea of the DER
Touristik Group,” said Hartmann. “We want to bring the know-how of the agencies to the internet and have functions where people can chat over the web with an agent who has knowledge about the Maldives or Kenya, to connect this knowledge and all the agencies.” Rules on price parity ensure
agents still command 80% of sales
in Germany. › Face to Face, page 14
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