TUI plans newbuilding

The Hamburg-based TUI, Europe’s leading travel and tourism group, has plans to strengthen its activities in this area. The company is currently active in the top end of the cruise holiday market and plans to take a 25% stake in a joint venture with British group Carnival and create a TUI Cruises brand for the partnership.

If the deal goes ahead, then TUI will place an order for a 3,000 passenger cruise ship with a scheduled delivery for 2010. The newbuilding will be the first of a series. For its part, Carnival would bring its German AIDA operations into the joint venture