TUI

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin hopes to complete its sale by September, the group's chief executive said, as government officials fended off accusations of favoring Lufthansa in the bankruptcy process.

"We want to settle the sale in September at the latest, otherwise customers' trust in the airline will vanish," chief executive Thomas Winkelmann told newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

Travel demand for Turkey seems to be coming back, while tourists have continued to pile into Spain over the last two years due to security concerns around other summer destinations such as Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey, the chief executive of the European tourism group TUI has said. 

Britain's Thomas Cook said a visible recovery continues in bookings for Turkey and Egypt, although it echoed concerns raised by rival tour operator TUI over the market for travel by British tourists on May 18, saying that competition at home had slowed growth, Reuters has reported. 

The Germans choose Greece and they raise the country’s expectations to 3.5 million tourists this year, compared with the 12% increase last year and the 3,14 million tourists of 2016. This number derives from the International ITB Tourist Exhibition in Berlin.

Bookings show an increased demand of Greece in summer, say German tour operators. According to Deutsche Welle, Germany’s largest tour operator, TUI registered a 4% increase in bookings for Greece in the current winter period and the coming summer, compared to the previous year.

European travel and tourism company TUI said it aims to start offering holidays to customers from countries such as China, India, Spain and Italy as it seeks new ways to keep its hotels full.

The German unit of European tour operator TUI said demand for summer 2017 bookings was "significantly" above the level seen at this point last year and that Germans were once again booking their holidays earlier.

"Many Germans who didn't go on holiday last year are booking especially early this year," Sebastian Ebel, head of TUI Germany, said in a statement on Thursday.

The Turkish government's fuel support for charter flights will be extended in 2017 amid a continuing loss in foreign tourist arrivals, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı has said.

At an event organized by the Mediterranean Touristic Hoteliers Association (AKTOB) on Nov. 25, he said a relevant cabinet decision would soon be released. 

European tour operator Tui expects to record an annual increase of 10 percent in the number of tourists it will bring to Greece throughout 2016 and has also decided to expand its cruise schedule to popular Greek destinations, the head of the company's media office for international markets, Bernd Hoffmann, told Kathimerini.

Seven buses carrying about 350 Syrian refugees, mainly families with young children, arrived shortly after 6pm at abandoned LM Village in Myrsini, Kyllini, which will be used as a refugee center.