Summer flight program from Salzburg
22 direct flights to five vacation destinations per week from Salzburg Airport / NEW: weekly flights to Zakynthos and Calabria and twice a week to Cyprus / Safety & flexibility more important than price / Large and varied offers with new TUI brand hotels
Travel remains a matter of the heart for Austrians: "Last year, travel was among the most missed activities. Therefore, the desire to travel is enormous. This is shown by the access figures on our website and the requests in our travel agencies, which have risen sharply since the announcement about the relaxation of travel restrictions in the summer," said Gottfried Math, Managing Director of TUI Austria, at a press briefing at Salzburg Airport on Tuesday.
Directly from Salzburg to the sea
For travel planning, the issue of safety is crucial. "A short, direct journey is even more important to our guests this year. We therefore enhanced our flight offer from Salzburg for the summer and offer 22 flights per week to five vacation countries," says Math.
Airport Managing Director Bettina Ganghofer is delighted: "Finally it is possible to fly from Salzburg again! Of course with the latest Covid regulations. TUI - one of the strongest partners here at Salzburg Airport - together with one of the most important airline partner Eurowings, has put together a summer program from Salzburg that is well worth seeing. In addition to the tried and tested classics such as Mallorca and the tourist favorites on the Greek and Italian islands, exciting new destinations such as Zakynthos, Larnaca and Lamezia Terme are also on offer. It's going to be a great summer and the vacation destinations from Salzburg leave nothing to be desired."
TUI guests will be able to fly directly from Salzburg Airport to the Greek islands of Karpathos, Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, Kos and, for the first time, to Zakynthos, Mallorca, Olbia/Sardinia and Hurghada/Egypt in summer 2021. Also new are direct connections to Lamezia Terme/Calabria from June and Larnaca/Cyprus from July, which TUI offers once respectively twice a week.
Also new: the direct flight to Dubai (U.A.E). "From July, we can finally welcome the new connection with flydubai. We have thus succeeded in setting foot in the Arab world despite difficult times, allowing us to fly into the hub of the third largest airport in the world," says Ganghofer. Dubai was TUI's best-booked destination last winter, along with the Maldives. "We are very pleased that we can now offer Dubai directly from Salzburg," says David Szabo, Head of Operation at TUI.
In addition to TUI's summer destinations, Salzburg Airport offers connections all over the world with its hub connections. In addition to the new direct connection to Dubai, the established connections of Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Turkish Airlines via Istanbul will be offered. Furthermore, flynas will offer direct flights to and from Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia starting this summer. The current flight program is rounded off by exciting destinations such as Lübeck (NEW) and Luxembourg (since 2020) and, of course, the well-known and popular connections to Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin or Cologne.
TUI guests, who book a flight for June from Salzburg from May 20th, will receive the parking space at Salzburg Airport free of charge. For departures in July and August, the free parking promotion applies to trips to Zakynthos and Kos.
Greece is in vogue
If it is about the most popular travel countries of the people in Salzburg, trips around the Mediterranean Sea are in demand in 2021. "We expect a good summer for Greece in particular. Especially families show a high request for the Greek islands. Therefore, we have expanded our offer from Salzburg by a new Greek destination, Zakynthos," says David Szabo. The large islands of Crete, Rhodes and Kos are in the lead in terms of popularity and offer the most extensive range of services. This summer, however, smaller islands will also be in demand, such as Karpathos and Zakynthos. In total, TUI’s program includes more than 4.500 hotels. To ensure the greatest possible variety, TUI is sticking to a broad hotel portfolio in summer 2021 and has the right offer for every vacationer. The six Robinson and TUI Magic Life clubs are particularly popular, as are the almost 40 brand hotels of TUI Blue, TUI Kids Club and TUI Suneo, as well as the hotels of the Grecotel and Atlantica chains. Besides Greece, TUI also expects good demand for Cyprus, Spain and Italy.
Low prices for 2021
TUI always offers attractive promotions with bargain prices to holidaymakers on short notice. In addition, travel prices are falling compared to the previous year. "We pass on the lower hotel prices we have renegotiated to our customers. In addition, there are lower kerosene costs. However, we are seeing an increase in travel prices for bookings to date," says TUI Austria Managing Director Math, adding that vacationers are taking advantage of the low-cost offers by then upgrading their booking to higher room categories, extra nights, private transfers on site or more food services. "We see that our customers want to treat themselves on vacation and may also need to catch up."
Safety and flexibility particularly important in travel planning
Safety and flexibility are taking precedence over price this year. We also notice that travel agencies and tour operators are benefiting from the situation. Personal advice and a contact person are essential. As is the flexibility to be able to rebook at short notice. "Whereas in the past the price-performance ratio was the most important criterion when planning a trip, flexibility is now the top priority. We see this with the new Flex fare we have introduced. More than 80 percent of all new bookings are currently bookings with a Flex fare," says Szabo.
This gives vacationers the option of rebooking or canceling worldwide flight package tours or accommodation bookings free of charge up to 14 days before arrival. In the event of cancellation, customers are refunded the entire travel price, including the Flex fare. Flex rates are also available for around 6,000 hotels in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, allowing free cancellation up to 6 p.m. on the day of arrival.
In addition, TUI includes Covid Protect travel protection. This travel protection also covers the appropriate care in the event of a trip to a risk area and includes, among other things, a virtual doctor's visit, Covid test, return flight guarantee, and hotel and treatment cost coverage.
Outlook
TUI and Salzburg Airport are positive about the coming months. "Vaccination progress and improved testing facilities are laying the foundation for safe travel. We expect that there will be a strong catch-up effect, especially in the summer months, and that planes will be booked up quickly on many routes during the summer vacations," says Gottfried Math.
Bettina Ganghofer adds: "There is no question that travel has changed as a result of the Corona pandemic. However, with the green passport, which should make traveling much easier this year, combined with comprehensive safety concepts from all tourism providers, a carefree and relaxing vacation will be possible. And that is exactly what people are now very keen on again. I am convinced that both the proven and the new flight connections will be very well received by our customers, making the restart a good one."
TUI flight program from Salzburg
9 weekly flights to Greece (3x Crete, 1x Kos, 2x Rhodes, 1x Corfu, 1x Karpathos and NEW 1x Zakynthos)
NEW: 2 weekly flights to Cyprus (Larnaca)
7 weekly flights to Mallorca
3 weekly flights to Italy (2x Sardinia, NEW: 1x Calabria)
1 weekly flight to Hurghada
TUI Österreich GmbH is part of the TUI Group, the world's largest integrated tourism group. In addition to the core brand TUI, numerous other well-known brands from the TUI Group such as airtours, TUI Cruises, TUI MAGIC LIFE, TUI Blue, Robinson, Gebeco, TUI Ferienhaus or TUI Ticketshop are distributed in Austria. TUI thus covers the entire range of travel from premium to individual to low-cost. TUI Austria GmbH is headed by managing director Gottfried Math (CEO) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of TUI Austria Holding GmbH. This company employs 500 people in Austria.
The TUI Group is the world's leading tourism group and is active in more than 100 countries around the world. The Group is headquartered in Germany. The TUI share is listed on the FTSE 250, the leading index of the London Stock Exchange, and on the Regulated Unofficial Market in Germany. The TUI Group employs more than 50,000 people worldwide and offers integrated services from a single source for its 28 million customers, 21 million of them in the European national companies.
