The offer of new destinations for European travellers and the potential to access the lucrative Chinese market are driving TUI Group’s expansion of its hotels and resorts division.
Europe’s largest tour operator, which carried 34.7 million customers in its 2025 full financial year, has announced a series of new hotels and contract signings in Asia and Africa while bookings are open for a Robinson Club resort in Cape Verde.
The operator said that the move was all part of a drive to expand its international hotel portfolio in a targeted fashion with the focus on “both established and emerging holiday destinations with international demand and year-round potential”.
Following the March announcement of the new growth, TUI Hotels & Resorts co-CEO Artur Gerber says: “TUI Hotels & Resorts is developing very dynamically worldwide. With our brands such as Robinson, TUI Blue and Riu, we are expanding the portfolio step by step.
“Today, 12 hotel brands with more than 460 hotels worldwide belong to TUI Hotels & Resorts, with more than 70 additional hotels already in the pipeline.
“This strengthens our international presence, opens up new markets and creates attractive offerings for diverse target groups.”
And the news has been welcomed by industry experts who believe it will not only stimulate the ever growing appetite of the European market but give it a foothold among Asian travellers.
AGB Associates managing partner and former head of ABTA’s legal services Alan Bowen says: “It is very interesting to see the development that long haul is becoming more relevant.
Long haul ambition
“They’re looking for new opportunities and any business that sits on its laurels and thinks we have great business opportunities from the UK and Germany and therefore we’re fine is probably very foolish.
“It makes sense and they can see they need to be expanding destinations to satisfy their customer base.
“We’ve got a very mature market in Europe now and it’s probably not going to expand much further.
“The market is also fairly static even if consumers move from one company to another so they are going to increase their sales and that makes sense.”
“If you can see opportunities and they make financial sense then they should be taken.”
TUI is describing its expansion into Asia as a “key pillar of the growth strategy of TUI Hotels & Resorts” as it already operates 25 hotels under its own brands in the region, with another 30 in the pipeline.
It adds a “current milestone” is the signing of the management agreement for TUI Blue Yangtze Shanghai a five-star, 103-room property close to People’s Square and set to open on 1 June, 2026.
The development was made possible following an agreement with Shanghai Donghu (Group) Co and, once open, will target both international and Chinese guests.
Chinese potential
Savills head of hospitality thought leadership, EMEA Thomas Emanuel believes that this is a natural progression for TUI.
He says: “When you talk about South East Asia it’s very established already; it is well known, it is got great connectivity, you’ve got a developed tourism industry there and it is popular with Westerners.
“But where it is really important is the short-haul market from the rest of Asia Pacific and where post Covid you saw the Chinese go back first.
“You’ve got in China that growing and emerging middle class with wealth and they want to travel. There is so much potential so South East Asia is obvious for them.”
Emanuel says the decision to open the Shanghai property represents a fairly new strategy for TUI, which has mostly focused on resorts as opposed to city hotels, adding: “It is a very logical step to grow brand awareness by opening a branded hotel and it is a very smart move.
“Brand recognition for the Chinese mass market is incredibly important.”
However, he warns that TUI will have to work hard to stand out, adding: “You have got some competition there as well as the expansion of the global western brands across China and notably across the urban markets over the last 20 years has been extraordinary.”
Bowen agrees that TUI will find the competition fierce once it opens the Shanghai property and adds that they will need to bring Chinese consumers on board if it is to be a success.
He says: “There are lots of operators in China already and one suspects that there is a lot of suspicion of overseas companies moving into China and taking business.
“It will be a very hard market but obviously a huge market, even if you only get a small percentage of it.”
The other key Asian development TUI announced as part of the new strategy is the first TUI Blue hotel in Japan which will target international travellers with winter sports and nature experiences at the mountain resort in Hokkaido.
Emanuel says: “Japanese tourism has been booming and hotels have been doing so well in Japan in recent months and years so it is very logical and growing brand awareness with the Japanese consumer is a very loyal step.”
Meanwhile, in Africa TUI Group is planning a new Agadir resort for its TUI Magic Life club brand while expanding its footprint in both West and East Africa with the first TUI Blue hotel in Gambia and further projects in Zanzibar as well as opening bookings for its Cape Verde property.
Emanuel says while TUI is well established in Africa, the announcement marks a new chapter, adding: “The brand is important in Africa and if you look at where the brands have generally gone, it has been to big cities like Nairobi and Addis Ababa but they haven’t really ventured too much into the resort space.”
He adds the operator will also be able to use its vertically integrated model to ensure it has complete control of the product and experiences on offer, as will be the case for the new Robinson Club in Cape Verde.
Emanuel says: “They control it all, they control the distribution, they control the flights, they control the transfers and if they can really nail that resort then I think they will do exceptionally well.”