This week TUI Travel says that they have been surprised by the recent demand increase for holidays. This improvement has been enough to boost the amount of summer breaks that the travel company offers to UK and Nordic region customers. During the recession, the company had cut their offering of holidays in order to support profit margins.

TUI Travel chief executive Peter Long, says that consumer research has shown that people are much more optimistic about personal finances and the jobs market, which is being backed by bookings. They have seen a strong demand for bookings in late winter, as well as for the summer, he continued. Due to this, they have increased capacity by 3% in the UK and 11% in the Nordic region. Long also described the change as positive but surprising, adding that he doesn’t think people are going nuts over bookings, but the increase is significant.

According to the TUI Travel’s figures, profitability for the 2Q is showing better returns than in the previous quarter, during which they had a £166 million pretax loss. This is compared to a £89 million deficit the year before.

TUI Travel usually loses money during the first half of their financial year, as the summer season is so important. Sales in the 1Q (October 2009 – December 2009) were down 8% year-on-year to £2.5 billion, which reflects capacity reductions that were offset partially by movements in currency. The company trebled to a £107 million underlying operating loss. However, Long says he’s confident that the remaining quarters of 2010 will have a positive momentum.