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Dieter Zümpel, CEO of DER Touristik Suisse, which owns the brands Kuoni, Helvetic Tours and ten other specialist brands: “2023 will not be a last-minute year.”
Jean Claude RaemyEditor Economics
After the turbulent takeover of Kuoni Switzerland by the German DER Touristik in 2016, tough years of restructuring followed for Switzerland’s best-known tour operator. Then Corona came. The experienced tourism expert Dieter Zümpel (65) managed the turnaround with Kuoni and is happy about the Swiss people who love to travel.
Blick: Mr. Zümpel, are the booking wires running hot again?
Dieter Zumpel: Advance bookings for 2023 this January have so far increased by double digits compared to January of the last pre-Corona year 2019. Especially trips in summer and December 2023 are in high demand.
Will you make it back to the pre-corona level this year?
Not quite, 90 percent of the pre-corona level is our goal.
Why behave like this?
The uncertainty surrounding the Ukraine war, the strong franc and the development of purchasing power continue to concern us.
How is it currently booked?
In 2019, our customers booked an average of 115 days before the trip, in 2022 it was only 75 days before the start of the trip. Now people are booking earlier again. This is also due to the fact that we have permanently introduced a price model in which a trip can be canceled free of charge up to eight days before departure without giving a reason. For us, 2023 will not be a last-minute year.
Last year’s bookings at short notice were mainly due to uncertainties due to the chaos at many airports.
Indeed. I don’t expect any more summer chaos in 2023. Which, given 2022, wouldn’t be a great achievement for the airlines.
They described the Swiss 2022 as “arrogant”. Are the fronts still hardened?
On an operational level, our relationship has actually always been good, but there were strategic differences. I had to address them. Our relationship is normal now.
From officer to CEO
Dieter Zümpel (65) has been CEO of the Kuoni brands under the umbrella of DER Touristik Suisse AG since 2016. Initially a professional officer in the German Armed Forces, he learned the sales business at Tchibo and from 1996 held management positions in tourism, including at TUI. Zümpel is married and the father of three children, one of whom is still at school. He lives in Zurich and Cologne (D). In addition to travelling, he appreciates hiking and history.
Dieter Zümpel (65) has been CEO of the Kuoni brands under the umbrella of DER Touristik Suisse AG since 2016. Initially a professional officer in the German Armed Forces, he learned the sales business at Tchibo and from 1996 held management positions in tourism, including at TUI. Zümpel is married and the father of three children, one of whom is still at school. He lives in Zurich and Cologne (D). In addition to travelling, he appreciates hiking and history.
Where are Swiss customers currently going?
The Mediterranean countries, the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Peninsula and Africa are in very high demand. Demand from Asia is also back at the 2019 level, with Thailand and Japan in particular being popular destinations. The USA and Canada are still below expectations – perhaps because of the ongoing vaccination requirement in the United States.
Fewer people are still traveling than before Corona, but they now have to dig deeper into their wallets. Will this trend continue?
We’ll see. Inflation is noticeable in Switzerland. However, the strength of the Swiss franc compensates for this somewhat when travelling, for example by making ancillary costs cheaper when on holiday abroad. A study we carried out in November also showed that only 21 percent of Swiss people are reducing their holiday budget with a view to 2023. Around half are sticking to the current budget, and 31 percent even want to spend more.
It depends on how the prices develop!
Travel prices will also be above average in 2023. Flight prices in particular show a sustained upward trend. However, we can cushion this effect because our parent company buys most of its services in euros. We have very attractive prices in the hotel sector.
Where are you in terms of price within Switzerland?
With Helvetic Tours we are price leaders, with Kuoni we are in the higher quality segment, but the prices are still attractive.
What is the truth behind the rumors about the merger of your parent company DER Touristik with the competitor FTI?
I do not comment on speculation and market rumours.
You certainly have an opinion on the subject of mass tourism!
Now that people are free to travel again, this theme returns. We want to and must continue to deal intensively with sustainability issues.
What is Kuoni doing to combat overtourism?
We try to develop less frequented destinations together with local tourism organisations. There are currently projects for this on Flores in Indonesia or in southern Sweden and in the north of Iceland. We train local people and create new offers. In this way, we distribute the flow of travel better, ideally also the travel times.
First of all, this means investment – with no guarantee of profit.
We want to show commitment. But of course we are not an NGO. We intend to be profitable with all our trips in the medium term. If there is not enough demand for the corresponding offers even after several years, we have to go through the books.
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A lot of money has already been lost in IT in the past.
We are constantly developing technologically. Recently we have also been using artificial intelligence. Collected customer feedback is anonymized and comprehensively categorized and analyzed by an AI. This gives us valuable conclusions for product development.
It is also said that AI will lead to job cuts. Kuoni cut jobs during the pandemic. What’s next?
We have already done our job on the cost side. We have lowered catalog costs, reduced the rental space at the headquarters by 40 percent, renegotiated rents for travel agencies. With this and with the current workforce, important foundations for success have been created. I assume that 2023 will be a good year for travel.
Is that reflected in your coffers?
The year has only just begun…
But what about last year, for which you forecast annual sales of around CHF 520 million or 80 percent of the pre-Corona level?
We are not yet communicating exact figures. But we probably landed on the spot in terms of sales. We are satisfied with that. We have not yet reached the 80 percent of 2019 guests. However, the average revenue per guest has increased significantly. We can now cover our costs much better.
Will you finally be back in the black for 2022?
This communication does not take place through me, but at group level. I’ll just say: I’m satisfied on this point too.