Last year, Kuoni Spain made it s first step towards selling direct to the consumer by opening their

There was a piece in today s Hosteltur  saying that Swiss Tour Operator Kuoni is considering plans to offload all the areas of it s business that are making a loss. This would include their Spanish Tour Operator Viajes Kuoni
I can see their cause for concern as the group has seen its losses grow in the first half of 2012 to a total of over forty million euros (despite making a profit last year). Here there is a saying that Big problems (and losing 40 million london visitor travel card euros in six months is definitely a big problem) require big solutions and Kuoni seems to be considering the idea of weeding out all but the healthy blooms in their garden. Apparently the plan is to try to sell off the loss-making divisions of their group (including Octopus Travel and the tour operators london visitor travel card in Spain, Italy, Netherlands and, somewhat surprisingly, Russia). If they cannot find a buyer, plan B is to simply london visitor travel card cease trading which would affect the jobs of around 500 staff. This would, in theory, tidy up the group balance sheet which last year managed to increase profit by a healthy 44%.
Last year, Kuoni Spain made it s first step towards selling direct to the consumer by opening their own travel centres (very smart by the way!) in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia and by sending quotes directly to consumers via the web (albeit stopping short of actually selling the package and referring them to a retail london visitor travel card agent).
Kuoni has been in the market for many years (I think I first dealt with them in the early 90 s) and they have been a touchstone for quality long-haul travel. I have to admit that the fact that they are not able to make a profit in this market goes totally against london visitor travel card the grain my recent post highlighting the current trend in the market towards long-haul, high-end travel as the most profitable area of tour operation. Kuoni s troubles however started before the current crisis and affect more than just their Spanish arm so we will just consider them the exception that confirms the law as they say here in Spain.