TUI, the world's largest tour operating company, is expected to bring its Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten brand in Germany and Thomson Cruises in the UK to the operation of TUI Cruises, its joint venture with Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (RCCL), media reports say
"TUI is also expected to outline plans to bring its Thomson Cruise and Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten operations into its joint venture with Royal Caribbean to improve cross-selling and operational synergies, according to a research note from Morgan Stanley," Travel Weekly reported in the UK.
TUI will hold a capital markets day for investors in London on Wednesday, when it is also due to publish its first quarter interim result. The company is headquartered in Hannover in Germany and listed on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and London.
In March, Thomson Cruises said it would receive the current Spledour of the Seas from RCCL in the summer of 2016, which it will introduce as Thomson Discovery. "The ship will be acquired by the Group’s subsidiary TUI Cruises, a joint venture between TUI Group and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and chartered to the Group’s British cruise line Thomson Cruises. Splendour of the Seas is to be operated in the British market from Summer 2016. The vessel will replace Island Escape, currently operated by Thomson Cruises’ sister company Island Cruises, so that the overall UK fleet will continue to be comprised of five cruise ships. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed," TUI said on 2 March.
"As already announced at our Annual General Meeting, we intend to continually modernise our fleet in the UK in the next few years. The acquisition of the Splendour of the Seas is the first step in this direction. We regard the cruise market as a growth market for our Group and intend to develop into one of Europe’s leading providers in this segment," said Sebastian Ebel, TUI Group CEO Platforms in charge of cruise operations.
The TUI Group currently has a fleet of 13 cruise ships via its subsidiaries TUI Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten and Thomson Cruises. Mein Schiff 4 of TUI Cruises was delivered last week and commissioned in the summer of this year. Mein Schiff 5 and Mein Schiff 6 have already been ordered and will be delivered in 2016 and 2017.
