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THOMSON owner Preussag has moved to distance itself from rival MyTravel’s gloomy outlook on the UK market.

The industry giant said UK turnover and bookings were recovering and prices had risen for summer 2002.

TUI northern Europe and TUI Airlines chairman Charles Gurassa revealed summer turnover was 2.7% down on last year and bookings down 5.7%. However, he said this was an improvement on the 5.7% and 8% declines respectively for last winter.

Gurassa added average prices were 3% higher than last summer at £700 per person.

He said: “There are more people left to book. Prices and margins will be the same if they come back, and if they do we will be very strong. But the question is will they come back?”

Gurassa added the encouraging TUI figures were helped by strong premium Thomson brand sales of A La Carte, Platinum and Gold.

MyTravel chief executive Tim Byrne issued a profits warning after his bookings for this summer nose-dived and the group said it had one million holidays still to sell (Travel Weekly May 27). Gurassa claimed Thomson has 24.3% of the market for this summer, while MyTravel has 16.6% and First Choice has 12.2%.

TUI chairman Michael Frenzel said the group had not had to reduce prices dramatically for the summer.

“There will not be a price war. We will be stable and are well positioned for 2002, it is not a great year, but it is not a catastrophe,” he said.

Frenzel explained the group forecasted a 7%-8% drop in bookings for this summer, so consequently cut capacity by 3% and redirected as many bookings as possible away from third-party suppliers. He said: “We were well advised to fill our own capacity. Behind this is a business logic of being flexible from one month to another.

“We are trying to achieve the optimum reach of our own resources,” he said.

Preussag expects to see 3% growth in the UK between 2001 and 2005. A third of TUI’s turnover is fuelled by UK sales, while 40% is from Germany.

The group handles 22 million customers a year, offering one million beds in the high season, of which 150,000 are its own.