Travel giant Tui to close 166 high street shops in UK and Ireland

The UK's biggest tour operator said the ‘difficult’ decision to shut 166 shops is due to the need to cut costs because of the coronavirus pandemic and in response to changes in customer behaviour.

It plans to move 70 per cent of the 900 affected jobs to a new ‘home-working sales and service team’.

Tui also aims to relocate staff to vacancies in its remaining 350 retail stores.

The firm announced in May that it planned to cut around 8,000 jobs globally 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.

“Customer behaviours have already changed in recent years, with 70 per cent of all Tui UK bookings taking place 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.

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

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