British holidaymakers lead the way as Tui hails the return of travel

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12th May 2022

Bite-sized business news from the UK and beyond

Good morning This week an Andy Warhol silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe sold at Christie’s for $195m after four minutes of bidding. If that sounds like a lot, it is: It’s the priciest sale of any American artwork at auction, and the most expensive 20th-century artwork to sell at auction. A $450m Leonardo da Vinci painting remains No. 1 on the all-time list.

Today's stories

British holidaymakers lead the way as Tui hails the return of travel
Crypto’s week goes from bad to worse

TRAVEL
British holidaymakers lead the way as Tui hails the return of travel

What happened
Yesterday travel giant Tui said that 2022 will be a "good financial year” as consumers book long-awaited holidays. Europe’s largest travel agent said its UK division continues to lead the way for summer bookings, which are now 11% higher than pre-pandemic levels versus other countries which are still 15% lower.

After over two years of travel disruption holidays are back on
The travel industry has been one of the worst affected by Covid restrictions. Prior to the pandemic, the global tourism sector had seen almost uninterrupted growth for decades. Since 1980, the number of international arrivals skyrocketed from 277m to nearly 1.5bn in 2019. In the last two years this figure fell to around 400m.

But with travel restrictions lifting, demand for foreign summer holidays is coming back with a bang. Tui, which runs hotels, airlines, cruises and travel agencies, said almost 2m passengers travelled with them over the past six months, almost 10 times as many as during the same period a year earlier. It now expects to turn a profit this year for the first time since 2019.

Keeping up with demand has not been plane sailing
Along easyJet and British Airways, Tui laid off thousands of workers during the pandemic and has struggled to recruit to cope with the recovery leading to delayed or cancelled flights. Earlier this month, Tui advised passengers to bring their own plane food, after staff shortages prevented it from serving food and drink on some of its journeys.

But amid a cost of living crisis, holidays could be at risk
Despite the positive trading this year, Tui’s not getting ahead of itself. The company warned that with inflation squeezing household budgets and the uncertainty caused by a war in Ukraine, consumer behaviour could be unpredictable.

Other stories to keep you in the loop

Government dismisses talk of emergency budget to tackle rising costs
US inflation rate slows but remains close to 40-year high
ITV warns of ad slump but is on track with new streaming brand launch
Toyota cuts production due to Covid lockdown in Shanghai
Channel 4 and Youtube strike content partnership deal
Vaccine maker Moderna's CFO exits after just two days
Fall in death rate drives ‘weak’ performance at funeral giant Dignity
Tesla recalling more than 130,000 cars as touchscreens overheat and turn off
Covid mask rules relaxed for EU air travel

CRYPTO
Crypto’s week goes from bad to worse

What happened?
Stablecoins are causing crypto chaos. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is (theoretically) pegged to another asset, like the US dollar. But this week Terra USD , the third-largest stablecoin, was unpegged from its $1 value and fell to $0.62. Investors then sold Terra (think: crypto bank run), sending shockwaves through the market.

How did it become unpegged?
Most stablecoins are backed by cash reserves, but Terra is also “algorithmic” which means it’s backed by “sister” coins. When one sister dips below $1, it can be swapped for the other at a small profit, which (theoretically) keeps both stable.

But this week Terra and its sister coin slumped together, causing investors to ditch both.

Terra’s fall caps a bad week for the crypto market
This week has seen Bitcoin, the biggest and best known cryptocurrency, fall below $30,000, a fall of more than 50% from its all time high reached last November.

The wider crypto market is also in the red, shedding $1.6tr in market value in six months. The market turmoil has led many to question whether crypto will ever become a more stable asset than can have wider use in society.

Stat of the day

According to a survey by messaging app Slack, almost 40% of workers are anxious about returning to the office, as life gets back to normal following the worst of the pandemic

Interesting links from around the web

Zero-rated? The rise and rise of TV that absolutely no one is watching
The 25 best hotels in the world as voted by travellers
How ‘accent bias’ affects job prospects

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British holidaymakers lead the way as Tui hails the return of travel

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