KUONI GROUP TRAVEL EXPERT IS UEFA’S OFFICIAL ACCOMMODATION SERVICES
PROVIDER FOR THE EURO 2016
GROUP TRAVEL
■■
■■ GROUP TRAVEL
(NEW PART OF GLOBAL TRAVEL SERVICES, GTS)
Turnover came to CHF 873 million in the 2014 financial year (2013:
CHF 943 million). The decline is due mainly to lower demand in the Japanese market. The number of employees (full-time equivalents, FTE) at the end of 2014 was 1 618.
A total of 50 000 group tours were put together, organised and executed by Kuoni Group Travel Experts in 2014. About 3.1 million room nights were booked. Japan was once again the largest source market
>
, despite negative economic influences, with 31% of all room night bookings, followed by China with 28% and Taiwan with 10%. Taiwan saw the greatest year-on-year growth with 15%. China recorded 12% more bookings. Thanks to a new strategic partnership, South Korea grew to become one of the most important source markets.The most popular destinations
>
for group travellers were Italy, France and Switzerland. 84% of all hotel stays organised by Group Travel were in the ten most popular destinations. Ireland and Greece enjoyed good growth as destinations. The growth in Greece was mainly due to increased bookings from North and South America and Japan.Spain saw the greatest growth in room nights booked from the Chinese market, and was particularly popular with travellers from Hong Kong.
Travellers from Taiwan booked significantly more room nights in the UK and Spain. Turkey saw the greatest growth in bookings by guests from Indonesia. For the Thailand source market, Denmark enjoyed the greatest year-on-year growth. Switzerland saw the highest growth QUICK SEARCH
14105
How does the Group Travel business model work (new part of GTS)?
>
LARGEST SOURCE MARKETS JapanChina Taiwan
>
MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS ItalyFrance Switzerland
In 2014 Kuoni Group Travel Experts organised approximately
50 000
group tours with
3.1 million
room nights booked
GROUP TRAVEL
QUICK SEARCH
14106
For further information about the activities of Group Travel (Kuoni Group Travel Experts), please visit kuoni.com The most-visited cities in 2014 were as last year Paris, followed by
Rome, London and Prague. The ten most popular European cities accounted for 28% of all room nights booked.
A fourth sales office in China was opened in the western city of Chengdu in order to keep the growth momentum in the Chinese market going.
The global partnership with Crescentrating, a company specialising in travel for Muslims, was announced in 2013 and developed very positively in 2014.
Kuoni Group Travel Experts is UEFA’s official accommodation services provider for the 2016 European football championship in France. During the year under review, the website was launched with 66 selected hotels and accompanying training facilities for qualifying national teams.
TURNOVER (CHF) MILLION
APP
MONT ST. MICHEL
TREVI FOUNTAIN ST. PETER‘S
CATHEDRALE LOUVRE
NOTRE DAME MOST POPULAR
SIGHTSEEING TRIPS:
MILLION BOOKED ROOM NIGHTS VIA THE GTA DATABASES MOST POPULAR
DESTINATIONS:
UK
ITALY USA
FRANCE
SOURCE MARKET DESTINATION MIX
FIT
ROOM NIGHTS IN HOTELS WERE BOOKED EVERY DAY ON AVERAGE
FIT
■■
■■ FIT (FULLY INDEPENDENT TRAVELLER, NEW GLOBAL TRAVEL DISTRIBUTION, GTD)
Turnover rose to CHF 1 933 million in 2014 (2013: CHF 1 802 million).
Around 13.6 million room nights in hotels were booked through GTA’s destination and accommodation databases. This represents an increase of 7.2% on the previous year. Growth of 13% was achieved in Asian source markets (ex-Japan). As at the end of 2014 FIT had 1 414 full-time employees (FTE).
In 2014 the most important source markets were the UK (14% of all room nights booked), Australia (7%), the USA, Spain and Italy (5%
each). The 10 biggest source markets
>
accounted for a total of 55% of all room nights booked. The fastest growing of these top ten was Spain with 57% followed by South Korea with 55%. Of the smaller, up-and-coming source markets, Thailand saw the greatest growth with 87%more hotel bookings, followed by Taiwan with 35%.
The most booked destinationsin 2014 were the USA (14% of all room nights booked), Italy (8%), France (7%) and the UK (6%). The 10 biggest destinations
>
accounted for a total of 61% of all room nights booked.The most booked cities were Paris, London, Dubai, Rome and New York.
The most popular holiday destinations in the Asia/Pacific region were Thailand, Australia, Singapore and Japan.
The fastest growing up-and-coming destinations in 2014 were mainly in Asia. These include Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Taiwan. Destinations in Africa also saw significant growth, though still from a low level.
QUICK SEARCH
14107
How does the FIT business model work (new GTD)?
>
THE 10 BIGGEST SOURCE MARKETS UK>
THE 10 BIGGEST DESTINATIONS USAroom nights were booked via the GTA databases.
FIT
QUICK SEARCH
14108
For further information about the activities of FIT (Fully Independent Traveller, now GTD), please visit kuoni.com
In autumn 2014 GTA launched a prototype mobile application for travel agents and their end customers – “emutrip”, which will con-tinue to evolve in 2015. The app serves as a mobile travel planner and allows online and offline travel agents to integrate individually booked destination services into “emutrip”. This gives travellers access to all their travel information, tickets and vouchers on their smart-phone or tablet. These details can all be amended and updated by the travel agent at any time, so the customer gets the information as quickly as possible either before or during their trip.
During the year under review GTA’s databases contained more than 48 000 hotels. An average of 200 million availability and price enquiries
were made every day. And an average of around 38 000 room nights in hotels were booked every day.