Travel
In the 2015/2016 financial year, the Hotelplan Group achieved sales of CHF 1.284 billion, down 1.6% on the previous year. The decline is due primarily to the challenging geopolitical events in some core destinations.
Financial results Travel
| CHF million | 2016 | 2015 | Change compared to previous year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net revenue from goods and services sold | 1'284 | 1'305 | -1.6% |
| Other operating income | 8 | 10 | -17.2% |
| Total income | 1'292 | 1'314 | -1.7% |
| Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) | -12 | -15 | 21.3% |
| Segment assets | 29 | 24 | |
| Investments in long-term assets | 5 | 5 | |
| Employees | 2'822 | 2'709 |
2016 was a challenging year for the Hotelplan Group. Sales decreased by 1.6% to CHF 1.284 billion. (2015: CHF 1.305 billion). Most of the decline was due to customer uncertainty triggered by terror attacks in popular cities and holiday destinations, as well as the unstable geopolitical climate. These conditions made people less keen to travel, led to hesitant incoming bookings for some core destinations, and caused an overall decline in the number of passengers.
Hotelplan UK enjoys upturn
The sales of Hotelplan UK increased by 23.0% to GBP 244 million (CHF 335 million) in comparison with the previous year. The expansion of Hotelplan UK was attributable partly to the acquisition of the soft adventure provider Explore and the diving specialist Regaldive, and also to organic growth. Measured in Swiss francs, however, the growth is lower due to the weakened British pound.
Holiday home agency business: positive result
In order to make more use of the synergies between the two holiday home agencies Interhome and Inter Chalet, the two units were merged into the Holiday Home Division. In 2016, there was a trend towards holidays in "own" holiday homes and chalets, which led to 3.7% more bookings than in the previous year. As a result, sales increased by 2.1% to CHF 323 million.
A difficult year in Switzerland
The Swiss subsidiary Hotelplan Suisse, together with the business travel specialist bta first travel, generated invoiced sales of CHF 715 million in the reporting year, down 10.9% on the previous year. Due to strong sales in autumn, Hotelplan Suisse reported a significantly improved result.
Emphasis was placed on optimum capacity utilisation, but revenue declined due to lower demand caused in particular by terror attacks in numerous European cities and the failed coup in Turkey.
Hotelplan Italia sold
The Hotelplan Group separated from Hotelplan Italia on 31 October 2016. By selling the company to the Italian tour operator Eden Viaggi, it was able to continue to employ all the existing staff.
New sales market: US
The investments made in the e-commerce sector led to the Hotelplan Group entering the US market for the first time in 2016: The start-up bedfinder offers travel services worldwide in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business segments. Its objective is to drive innovation and digitalisation.
In autumn 2016, hotels worldwide went on offer in the US source market for the first time. At the end of the reporting year, the UK source market was added and the platform bedfinder.com was launched.
Positive sustainability balance
Hotelplan Suisse successfully continued its activities in the areas of climate protection, child protection and sustainable accommodation in the reporting year. Despite declining passenger numbers, more customers offset CO2 emissions than in the previous year. The proportion of offset tonnes of CO2 emissions from flights increased by 17% to 13'024.6 t.
In 2016, the Hotelplan Group again made a commitment to the protection of children against sexual exploitation at holiday destinations and introduced a mandatory e-learning programme for new employees in Sales and Production. The partnership with the Travelife label, which certifies sustainable accommodation, was successfully stepped up and the range expanded by 74.1%.