At the balance sheet date, the TUI Group’s worldwide headcount rose by 27.1% year-on-year. The structure of the Group’s personnel changed due to the merger with First Choice Holidays PLC. At 87.3%, the tourism division continued to employ the largest proportion of personnel, up from 82.3% in 2006. The shipping division accounted for 12.0% of employees, compared with 15.9% in the previous year. The proportion of employees working for central operations changed substantially due to the transfer of the tourism functions. It fell to 0.7% of the overall workforce, down from 1.8% in 2006.
1) Corresponds to the TUI entities merged in 2007
Tourism
The employees shown under TUI Travel PLC in 2006 are those employed by the TUI Group’s tourism entities which were transferred to TUI Travel PLC in the completed financial year. The proportion of employees in tourism changed substantially due to the merger with First Choice Holidays PLC; it rose by a total of 34.7%. With the merger, the tourism functions of central operations were also transferred to TUI Travel PLC. Accordingly, a total of 15,423 employees were newly added to the tourism division.
The TUI Hotels & Resorts sector increased its headcount by 13.2% year-on-year to 12,127. This growth resulted primarily from capacity increases due to the opening of new hotels.
Shipping
In the shipping division, the headcount declined by 3.8% to 8,243 primary due to divestments.
Central operations
The central operations sector recorded a significant decline in headcount of 53.1% to 446 due to the strategic transfer of the tourism functions and the restructuring measures in the corporate centre. The number of employees working for the corporate centre dropped by 48.8% from 465 in 2006 to 238, including 195 employees employed by TUI AG.
Seasonal development
The headcount development during the year was significantly influenced by the seasonal fluctuations in employment in tourism, in particular in the hotel companies and incoming agencies. Temporary employment of seasonal staff resulted in an average headcount of 5,748 in the incoming agencies sector in the summer months from June to August, compared with 3,584 employees at year-end. In the TUI Hotels & Resorts sector, the average headcount was 16,992 in the summer months, compared with 12,127 employees at year-end.
At 80.6%, a large part of TUI Group employees worked in Europe. 28.2% of Group employees worked in the UK, 16.2% in Germany, 12.2% in France and the Benelux countries, 12.8% in Spain and 2.8% in the Nordic countries. Group companies outside Europe accounted for 19.4% of the overall workforce, with most of these employees working for Hapag-Lloyd and First Choice in America and Asia.
