The Dertour Group, the tourism arm of the Rewe Group, recorded a double-digit growth rate of approximately 25% (24.6% to be precise) in sales in 2023, with revenues amounting to €7.2 billion, while a new, sharp increase of 47% was recorded in early March for this year’s tourist season.
The Dertour group is “back on track for success with a strong performance”, Rewe CEO Lionel Souque underlined at the group’s annual press conference on its 2023 financials today.
According to him, the summer of 2023 was characterised by a strong desire to travel to all source markets: On the one hand, the pent-up demand for travel after the pandemic continued. On the other hand, many people decided to treat themselves to a holiday and prefer to save money elsewhere if necessary.
“Our tourism sector was well prepared for the strong increase in interest in package holidays and the pan-European trend towards higher quality holidays,” said Mr Souque.
This combined with high demand led to a “pleasing sales trend”, which “in some regions even exceeded the 2019 level”.
The hotel division is a strategic “growth sector” of the group
According to the CEO of Rewe, which is one of Europe’s leading retail and tourism groups with sales of €92 billion in 2023, a lot has also happened at a strategic level. In addition to the expansion of the specialty travel sector, the Dertour Group has grown further, particularly in the hotel sector, with the opening of additional hotels and investments in real estate. The hotel sector is now the most important strategic growth area within the Dertour Group, as Mr. Souque pointed out.
As far as the prospects for 2024 are concerned, they are excellent, with sales booming and recording a 47% increase in early March for this year’s tourist season.
The Rewe Group, supported by its broad international positioning in retail, travel and tourism, achieved another solid and successful business year in 2023. Total revenues exceeded EUR 92 billion,up by almost 9%, partly due to inflation. Profits (Ebita) climbed to over 1.8 billion euros, while the group’s workforce grew by 1.3% to 389,270 employees.
Meanwhile, the group continued its investment offensive, channelling €3 billion into infrastructure, modernisation, digitalisation, innovation and sustainability – in short, the wishes of tomorrow’s customers.
