The acquisition by private equity firm Cinven Capital Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is expected to be completed by the end of September.

Tui put its bed bank unit up for sale last year, saying that it wanted to focus on its core tourism business.

Fritz Joussen, chief executive of Tui Group, said: “With the disposal of Hotelbeds, we consistently implement our strategy and strengthen our alignment as the world’s number one tourism group. There were numerous bidders for Hotelbeds Group. Following intensive negotiations, we decided to sell Hotelbeds to Cinven Capital Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.“

He added: “We will use the disposal proceeds to continue our growth path, in particular in terms of content, and strengthen our balance sheet,” says Joussen.”

With Tui set on continuing to build an integrated tourism business, it will be interesting to see what it does with the €1.2 billion.