Tui to close 166 high street stores in UK and Ireland

Tui is to close 166 high street stores in the UK and Ireland.

The company, the UK's biggest tour operators, said the closures were due to changes in customer behaviour, compounded by the coronavirus outbreak.

The decision affects around a third of the company's stores. Around 350 retail stores will remain following the closures.

It plans to move 70 per cent of the 900 affected jobs to a new “homeworking sales and service team”. Tui also aims to relocate staff to vacancies in the remaining retail stores.

The firm announced in May that it planned to cut around 8,000 jobs globally as it seeks to reduce overhead costs by 30 per cent.

Andrew Flintham, managing director of Tui UK and Ireland, said: “We want to be in the best position to provide excellent customer service, whether it’s in a high street store, over the telephone or online, and will continue to put the customer at the heart of what we do.

“It is therefore imperative that we make these difficult cost decisions, look after our colleagues during such unprecedented uncertainty and also offer a modern customer service.”

He added that 70 per cent of all Tui UK bookings are made online.

“We believe Covid-19 has only accelerated this change in purchasing habits, with people looking to buy online or wishing to speak with travel experts from the comfort of their own home," he said.

“We have world-class travel advisers at Tui, so we hope many of them will become homeworkers and continue to offer the personalised service we know our customers value.”

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