TUI Group continues its growth roadmap in its hotel segment with an expansion of its long-haul portfolio. Through the acquisition of a resort in East Africa’s island of Zanzibar, the world’s leading tourism group has complemented its portfolio in the Indian Ocean.
The ‘Dream of Zanzibar‘ hotel will be operated by TUI as of now. In this context, all existing reservations will be taken over and honoured. In the 2019/20 Winter season, the hotel will then be repositioned as TUI Blue Zanzibar. With the takeover of the resort designed in the African-Arab architectural style, the new lifestyle hotel brand will make its debut establishing its concept focused on authentic experiences within the holiday region in a long-haul destination.
“In delivering our growth roadmap, we are increasingly looking for holiday destinations facilitating profitable year-round operation due to their consistently warm climate,” said TUI Blue Managing Director Artur Gerber. “The ‘Dream of Zanzibar‘ hotel already features a very good occupancy rate and high customer satisfaction levels. The destination also features a wide range of cultural influences and excursion options. These are optimum conditions enabling us to create a unique holiday experience for our guests with our new hotel brand.”
The island off Tanzania’s coast is renowned for its spices, white beaches and cultural diversity. Attractive excursion destinations also include Stone Town, the historical old part of Zanzibar City, designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The destination in the Indian Ocean is increasingly becoming a trending destination, not only for beach holidays after a safari trip. Alongside TUI Blue Zanzibar. TUI Group will open another hotel in the island this winter season, the Riu Palace Zanzibar.
For a number of years, TUI Care Foundation is also active in Tanzania. Since 2015, the Foundation has teamed up with the local Kawa Training Centre to offer young people from Zanzibar the opportunity to undergo training to become tour guides. The programme offers the participants the chance to obtain professional skills, opening up new job prospects in tourism.
The TUI Blue
With its new lifestyle hotel brand TUI Blue, TUI Group is driving growth in the hotel segment further ahead. With its brand claim “Explore the more.“, TUI Blue blends the best of a first-class hotel package experience with individual travel. The hallmarks of the hotels are modern architecture with regional elements, cutting-edge technology design and the Bluefit concept for fitness, nutrition and wellness. The hotel’s high-quality offerings are complemented by individual experience modules. The first hotel brand in TUI’s Hotels & Resorts portfolio to place the experience at the core focuses on authentic holiday encounters with the surrounding region. The Managing Directors of the hotel brand are Artur Gerber and Jano Martin. TUI Blue’s portfolio currently comprises ten hotels in Europe and North Africa.
The TUI Group
TUI Group is the world’s number one integrated tourism group operating in around 180 destinations worldwide. The company is domiciled in Germany. The TUI Group’s share is listed in the FTSE 100 index, the leading index of the London Stock Exchange and in the German open market. In financial year 2017, the TUI Group recorded turnover of €18.5bn and an operating result of €1.121bn.
The Group employs 67,000 people in more than 100 countries. TUI offers its more than 20 million customers comprehensive services from a single source. It covers the entire tourism value chain under one roof. This comprises around 380 Group-owned hotels and resorts with premium brands such as RIU and Robinson and a fleet of cruise ships ranging from the MS Europa and MS Europa 2 luxury class vessels to the “Mein Schiff” fleet of TUI Cruises and the vessels of Marella Cruises in the UK. Furthermore, TUI features leading tour operator brands, 1,600 travel agencies in Europe and five European airlines with around 150 modern medium and long-haul aircraft. Global responsibility for sustainable economic, ecological and social activity is a key feature of our corporate culture.
TUI Care Foundation supports the positive impacts of tourism. It initiates projects creating opportunities for the next generation and contributing to a positive development of the holiday destinations.
