Germany’s TUI To Resume Operations In Romania As Of 2010 – Tourism Minister

Romania will be included in TUI catalogues and acknowledged as summer tourist destination for TUI’s customers, Udrea said Tuesday after a meeting with TUI officials.

Udrea also said she managed to get hotel owners to charge fair prices, adding she also discussed establishing a new airline from Germany towards Romania’s southeastern Black Sea city of Constanta.

In turn, Gero Eden, head of TUI’s Product Management Department, said TUI wants the partnership with Romania to stay active in upcoming years too, adding the reasons behind TUI’s withdrawal from the Romanian market back in 2005 are no longer valid.

Romania’s Tourism Ministry and TUI will be actively involved in marketing campaigns meant to promote Romania on the German tourism market. The ministry will contribute 83 eurocents for each copy of TUI catalogues to be distributed in Germany and issued in 120,000 copies.

TUI has a 29% market share, nearly 13 million customers annually and 1,800 own travel agencies. The Group also owns 276 hotels in 30 countries.

In 2006, TUI discarded its flights to Romania and eliminated from its catalogues any destination towards Romania, citing bad accommodation conditions, high hotel prices, too much noise and dirty resorts.