Despite an overall downturn in the travel industry, Germany-based travel giant TUI -- whose businesses include everything from budget airlines to package tour providers -- said on Friday it is optimistic it will soon return to profitability. Although the travel group's summer sales declined, they exceeded expectations. Strong demand helped the firm's bottom line as sales fell by just 4.2 percent from last year. Despite the economic slump, demand has climbed at TUI's European units, although its core market in Germany continues to underperform.