Tui posted record full-year earnings (year to 30 September 2025) of €1.46 billion on Wednesday (10 December) following a 4.4% increase in revenue to €24.2 billion. However, this was powered for the most part by its experiences, cruise and add-ons offerings rather than its operating and airline segments.
Its northern region, which includes Tui UK and Ireland, achieved pre-tax and interest earnings of €140 million, down from €165 million a year earlier, a pattern repeated across its central and western European regions.
Earnings across its markets and airline segment also dipped from €304 million to €217 million, an area where chief executive Ebel told media Tui is seeking to make €250 million in cost savings, split 60:40 between reducing overheads and improving "operational excellence".
In a wide-ranging media briefing on Wednesday delivered alongside chief financial officer Mathias Kiep, Ebel said he was hopeful the high inflation environment that has for several years loomed over the economic and consumer landscape was over.
This, he said, would likely result in revenue once again scaling in line with passenger volumes. Reflecting on recent trading, he said Tui had enjoyed a surprisingly strong Black Friday, adding the next test would be turn of year trading.
Ebel insisted there would be no change in support for retail, including third-parties, stressing efficiency efforts would not result in reduced headcount – "fewer people" – across the business, despite an eagerness to embrace the opportunities afforded by AI.
He said Tui's workforce was "changing", citing IT as an area that would be scaled back now its investment in its transformation has "peaked". The cost-savings will be made in increments over a three-year period to 2028.
Following this investment to transition Tui into a marketplace model, illustrated by an 11% uptick in dynamic packaging over the past year, Ebel said now was the time for Tui to start monetising that investment and driving harder at margin. "We do see positive trading momentum," he told media.
AI as concierge
Ebel and Tui have been evangelical in recent years about Tui's own-brand proposition; Ebel said with travel poised to grow in 2026, demand for "unique, brand-led leisure products" – "even in challenging destinations" – was strengthening, citing Tui's Robinson, Riu and Tui Blue lines as key assets.
These, Ebel and Kiep reiterated, drive bigger margins and allowed Tui to personalise holiday experiences more – extending customers' life-time value to the brand.
Dynamic packaging, Ebel said, was spreading risk more evenly across the business. He claimed the operator's landmark partnership with Ryanair had achieved its goals and would continue to grow, adding Tui was looking to add more carriers to its dynamic eco-system.
He predicted AI would divide the market, with brand-specific bookers on one side and customers coming to the brand from more diverse sources on the other – with Tui's AI concierge platform sitting in the middle.
Ebel said Tui saw "significant possibilities and opportunities" by connecting to LLMs [large language models] and becoming part of social media brands' eco-systems rather than "relying on Google". He characterised this as positioning Tui "in the spaces where our customers are".
AI, he added, would power personalisation and deliver recommendations, unique content, inspirational videos, translations and trip planning, as well as voice chat and agent functionalities.
Kiep said some of the hit on the markets and airline side of the business had been down to one-off costs, including "double-digit" maintenance costs factored in early. He added the business was ready to invest in its hotels division and its airline, with 20 Boeing aircraft set to join the fleet next year.
