Summer bookings up
Thomas Cook has released its Pre-close trading update, in which it reveals that winter 2016/17 is closing out as expected, with bookings similar to last year’s levels, while summer bookings are up 10 per cent, with strong growth for Greece and smaller European destinations.
”Customers’ appetite to go abroad on holiday this summer is good across all our markets despite continued political and economic uncertainty,” commented Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Thomas Cook. “Our decision to expand our holiday offering to Greece has helped support customer demand, with bookings to Greece up by around 40 per cent versus last year, while smaller destinations like Cyprus, Bulgaria and Croatia are also proving popular.”
Fankhauser also said that after a slow start to the season and a tough year in 2016, Thomas Cook is seeing early signs that customers are beginning to go back to Turkey and Egypt, and that following strong growth last year, bookings to the Spanish Islands have levelled off in a very competitive market. “Competition is particularly intense in the airline sector, putting downward pressure on pricing,” he said. “As we look ahead to the rest of the year, I am confident that the work we’re doing to strengthen the quality and appeal of our holiday offering will win more fans for Thomas Cook, demonstrating continued progress in our transformation to put our customers at the heart of the business.”