Club Med claims UK sales increase amid new resort openings

The operator said UK revenue in 2019 reached £60 million, an increase of 7% year-on-year, with growth partly driven by an 18% increase in online transactions as well a 10% rise in new premium customers.

The French company also said initial results for the first quarter of this year showed an increase of 3% in UK ski sales and 10% in long-haul bookings.

Club Med has an extensive opening schedule over the next five years. Locations for new properties include a luxury 5-Trident Exclusive Collection private island resort in The Seychelles from October 2020, plus La Rosiere in the French Alps in December. Club Med’s first Canadian resort, Quebec Charlevoix, which opens next year, will also be Club Med’s first mountain resort to open year-round.

Other developments planned for 2021 and beyond include Exclusive Collection resorts in Portugal’s Alentejo and Venice Lido and 4T resorts with 5T Exclusive Collection spaces in Borneo, Thailand and South Africa.

China will also see new ski resorts in Changbaishan, Lijiang and Thaiwoo “among others”. Club Med is a subsidiary of Shanghai-based Fosun International, which will relaunch Thomas Cook as a digital brand later this year having bought the name and digital assets from liquidators.

Estelle Giraudeau, Club Med managing director UK and Northern Europe said: “After a very good performance in 2018, Club Med UK recorded new growth in 2019. Premium customers drove a significant proportion of this growth, which is why we have such an ambitious roadmap of new 4-Trident and 5-Trident Exclusive Collection resorts over the coming years, including our first ever private island in The Seychelles.”

Club Med also launched its Happy To Care sustainability initiative. Commitments include construction of new resorts to global eco-standards and for all properties to be Green Globe certified by 2021, including the removal of single-use plastics. The operator said three-quarters of jobs in its resorts were already created locally.