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The Tui Group is looking to cut 8,000 roles worldwide with the firm calling Covid-19 the “greatest crisis the industry… has faced”.
The group posted loses of 845.8 million euro (£747m) in the first half of 2020, compared to 289.1 million (£255m) in the same period 12 months previously.
The company said: “We are targeting to permanently reduce our overhead cost base by 30% across the entire group.
“This will have an impact on potentially 8,000 roles globally that will either not be recruited or reduced.”
The company’s report said: “The tourism industry has weathered a number of macroeconomic shocks throughout the most recent decades, however the Covid-19 pandemic is unquestionably the greatest crisis the industry and Tui has ever faced.”
It added that loses were also borne as a result of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft after two crashes with other airlines.
Tui chief executive Fritz Joussen said the company should “emerge from the crisis stronger”.
He added: “It will be a different Tui and it will find a different market environment than before the pandemic.
“This will require cuts: in investments, in costs, in our size and our presence around the world. We must be leaner than before, more efficient, faster and more digital.”
The holiday industry, particularly airlines, have been hit hard by the ongoing pandemic with holidays abroad virtually impossible for much of the world’s population.
Last month British Airways announced 12,000 workers would be made redundant as it is expected to take “several years” for the airline industry to recover.
Just a week later, Virgin Atlantic said it would axe 3,150 jobs – around a third of its workforce.
Chief executive Shai Weiss blamed the move on “unprecedented market conditions” as a result of the virus which had “severely reduced revenues”.