This Is Local London: advertising feature

Europe's largest tour operator, TUI Travel has recorded a 15% rise in annual profits for the year to September 30th. Pre-tax profits were up from £19 million to £66 million, beating rival operator Thomas Cook who recently announced flat profit levels.

TUI Travel was pleased that summer 2009 had met expectations thanks mainly as a result of achieving required load factors. Balearic Island holidays remained as popular as ever with non euro resorts such as Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria proving to be strong destinations.

Reductions in capacity and strong selling prices have led to promising results, despite the harsh economic climate. Swine flu also had a huge impact on the travel industry, costing TUI Travel &pound9 million in repatriation and compensation costs.

TUI has 13% fewer holidays to sell this winter and it looked like things were getting off to a slow start with bookings down 16%, but there have been signs of improvement in the last couple of weeks suggesting that travellers are taking advantage of last minute holidays especially to non euro destinations and Spain such as Balearic Island holidays.

CEO for TUI Travel Peter Long stated "We have managed capacity carefully for the current winter season and as a result remain confident that we can meet our Board's expectations for 2010".

Looking forward to 2010 the signs are encouraging, despite bookings currently being down 3%, the average selling prices for package holidays is up 7% suggesting that customers are leaning towards higher value holidays.

Peter Long concluded "Our customers' behaviour has demonstrated that even against a backdrop of reduced customer confidence, the main summer holiday is an essential expenditure".

TUI Travel operates under four main sectors; Mainstream, Specialist and Emerging Markets, Activity and Accommodation and Destinations. With over 200 brand names within the group ensuring it remains a leader in the global travel market.