Sunweb Group positively looks ahead and realises growth strategy
- Despite the chaos at the airports, Sunweb (117%) and Eliza here (174%) achieved a record turnover in Belgium. The group is thus strengthening its market share in its home markets (the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark), the United Kingdom and Sweden.
- The acquisition of Airtours strengthens Sunweb’s position in Sweden and makes Sunweb Group the fourth-largest travel organisation in Scandinavia.
- Sunweb Group announces partnership with Neste, purchasing 385,000 litres of sustainable aviation fuel SAF to reduce CO? emissions. The partnership follows the earlier announcement to stop carbon offsetting and instead reduce emissions of its own product.
Sunweb Group, the group with brands such as Sunweb and “Eliza was here”, looks back on a very good summer despite the chaotic situations at airports throughout Europe and is able to expand its position in all markets. Thanks to agile operations and investments in people, product range and technology, the leading digital holiday expert was able to operate flexibly and efficiently. As a result, Sunweb Group not only came out of this period with a huge growth rate, but also managed to stick to its growth strategy. In Belgium, both brands showed good results. Sunweb grew by 117% and Eliza was here, only active in Flanders, with no less than 174%.
“At Sunweb Group we do not own any aircraft or hotels, we work together with our regular partners such as Brussels Airlines. Thanks to our flexibility and digital mindset, our organisation was able to adapt even better to the new reality and the needs and wishes of Belgians. In addition to our business model, dynamic packaging has also contributed to this. Dynamic packaging has helped us this summer to keep almost all holidays going, for example by allowing travellers to depart from other airports and adjusting start and end dates of holidays,” says Mattijs ten Brink, CEO of Sunweb Group.
“Dynamic packaging gives our customers the choice to put together their holidays completely according to their wishes. We are seeing a continued revival of the package holiday. We even serve customers who have never booked with us before. A package holiday is flexible, offers the necessary guarantees and a point of contact if something needs to be changed,” adds Ten Brink.
Strengthened position in Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a major growth market for Sunweb Group, and the organisation has had great ambitions there since its start in Denmark 10 years ago. Sunweb Group is the second most popular travel company in Denmark thanks to investment and hard work. Today Sunweb Group announces that it is acquiring Airtours, in order to further strengthen its position in Sweden. Thanks to the acquisition, Sunweb Group will become the number four travel company in both Sweden and the whole of Scandinavia. Due to the complementary offer and the equal corporate culture and values, Sunweb Group believes that the cooperation with Airtours will be a great success.
Sustainable focus on reducing own emissions
In the spring of this year, the travel organisation already showed itself to be a decisive frontrunner within the travel industry, by no longer compensating for CO2, but reducing the emissions of its own product. Sunweb Group is now also proud to announce a partnership with Neste, a producer of sustainable jet fuel and renewable diesel. The travel organisation purchases 385,000 litres of sustainable aviation fuel (‘SAF’) from Neste, which actually reduces CO2 emissions. This makes Sunweb Group the first organisation in the tourism industry without its own aircraft to take such an important step.
“We are aware that this is only a small amount of sustainable fuel, but at the same time we are taking an important step towards making flying more sustainable,” says Chris Oskam, Head of Sustainability at Sunweb Group. “SAF is the most effective means of reducing our carbon footprint. Currently, less than 0.1% of all fuel worldwide is SAF. To reduce emissions from flights, that percentage must be increased. With the new investment, we as Sunweb Group are mixing an additional 0.5% on all flights of our 1 million customers, on top of the percentage of SAF that the airlines do. With this investment we want to show that sustainability is a responsibility for everyone”, concludes Chris Oskam.
SAF is the most sustainable fuel alternative and emits at least 80% less CO2 than fossil kerosene. The fuel that Sunweb Group purchases from Neste is made from sustainably purchased renewable waste and residual materials such as used frying fat. In April, Sunweb Group already announced that it would invest a sustainability budget in SAF. This sustainability budget will continue to exist and the current investment at Neste is now on top of that.
