“I expect 2024 to be a good year with strong demand for holidays as we saw in 2023.” That’s what Luc Lentjes, Director Product & Yield at TUI Benelux, says when asked what his expectations are for 2024. “Of course, there are challenges on several fronts. External factors that play a role in this are in the field of government policy regarding Schiphol, the economic outlook, consumer confidence and the changing political landscape. In addition, we see that a growing number of consumers like to book their holidays for next summer at an early stage. That’s good for us, but also for the consumer, because he still has all the choice. Especially since we now know from the experience of summer 2023 but also the current winter that many good accommodations and flights are quickly fully booked in the last-minute season.’ Lentjes continues: ‘Within Europe, I expect that both Spain and Greece will see a huge, further increasing demand from our market, as well as from other markets. Spain and Greece are followed by Turkey. Among the distant destinations, Curaçao will be the big crowd puller. We fly there 14 times a week with our modern, quiet and fuel-efficient Dreamliners.’ What will be your focus in the new year? “My personal focus, together with the teams, will be on further expanding and optimising our flight and accommodation offer, as well as on its quality scores. But of course also on yield management, i.e. keeping supply and demand in a good balance. Ultimately, all this with the aim of being able to serve many happy TUI customers optimally with the good quality they can expect from TUI, of course at a fair price.’ ‘In addition, we are paying a lot of attention to the further improvement and roll-out of our new TRIPS platform and the additional opportunities this gives us for further expansion of our range of accommodations, flights and, for example, cross-border sales. Finally, in the coming year, we will shape the intensified cooperation between the Belgian and Dutch organisations.’
What are you personally most looking forward to in the new year? ‘To my family holiday in Thailand. And certainly also to all the great challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us in the travel industry and at TUI specifically.’ Do you have any New Year’s resolutions?” Personally, I never do that, at least not necessarily at the start of the new year. I would like to wish all colleagues and our customers a very healthy and wanderlust 2024.’ (File photo TravMagazine)
