Alltours: 370 Greek hotels is 2016 program

Alltours plans to further expand its programs for Greece and Spain next summer after decreased bookings for Turkey and Tunisia hindered overall growth in 2015, fvw reported.

Especially Greece, its third-largest destination, was a big winner for the company during the summer of 2015 with a 10% increase in visitors and the program will be extended to 370 hotels next summer with emphasis on smaller islands.

1.87 million guests

Germany’s fifth-largest tour operator, with revenues of €1.5 billion in 2014, expected to close the 2014/15 business year with a 2.2% rise to 1.87 million guests (from Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Switzerland) and pre-tax profits to increase by 10% to more than €40 million. According to the company, growth was highest in Germany but the other three source markets also expanded.

For 2016, Alltours is expecting a further 1.8% rise in customer numbers to 1.9 million and characterized winter bookings as “satisfactory”. As its owner Willi Verhuven commented: “Despite many crises in destinations, we have exceeded our targets. We’re very satisfied with this result.” 

180 exclusive hotels

For next summer, the company is reducing early booking prices (until January 31) by 2.5% on average while keeping prices stable for bookings from February onwards. It plans to offer more than 180 hotels exclusively on the German market, including the 45 own-brand hotels, Allsun, Alltoura and Sunline properties.

During the 2015 summer, the company attained a 6% rise in bookings for Spain, its principal destination, and forecasts this trend to continue in 2016, enhanced by unchanged prices for the Balearics and a 3% price reduction for the Canary Islands. It also claimed that 19% of all German holidaymakers on Majorca this year had booked an Alltours holiday, according to GfK figures.

Selective increase

Furthermore, Verhuven estimated that “Spain will again generate an increase in customers in summer 2016” and added: “We have responded with a selective increase in our program, as we want to continue growing in Spain.” 

On the contrary, Turkey, number two destination for Alltours, faced lower demand last summer due to the impact of the Syria crisis. Similarly, bookings for Tunisia fell “substantially” in 2015 following the terrorist attacks there.

Regarding other destinations, Alltours announced higher bookings for Egypt, Croatia, Portugal, the Caribbean and South-East Asia, along with stable demand for Bulgaria and Cyprus.