Thomas Cook today reported “significant growth” to Turkey this summer as the country staged recovery after terrorist attacks and political upheaval.
Reporting results for the three months to June 30, the group said that holidaymakers were being attracted by the quality and value of the destination.
Overall bookings for this summer are up by 11%, with a 1% improvement in prices.
Demand for Greece is up by 22%, Bulgaria by 19% and Cyprus by 14% together with growth to long-haul destinations.
Thomas Cook reported a halving of quarterly pre-tax losses to £31 million from £64 million in the same period last year as revenue rose by 14% to £2.2 billion.
This came as a result of strong growth to Greece and long-haul destinations while Spain continued to build on high levels of growth experienced last year.
Bookings to Spain are broadly in line with last year, reflecting a “very competitive market and a strong comparative period”.
Overall summer bookings from the UK are up by 6% with average selling prices in line with last year.
“We continue to manage through a more competitive market to Spain, as a result of higher hotel price inflation and increased air capacity to the region,” Thomas Cook said.
“Our focus, therefore, has been on selling higher margin, quality holidays rather than pursuing volume growth, and as a result, charter risk package pricing is up by 7% while bookings are up by 1%.”
Bookings from the UK for winter 2017-18 are up by 5%, with a 4% increase in prices, reflecting good demand for our own-brand hotels. The overall programme is currently around 30% sold, in line with last year.
Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: “Our increased focus on the customer is reflected in a good performance for the third quarter.
“Strong demand for our holidays across the group combined with an improved performance in our German airline to deliver a £10-million increase in profit versus the same period last year.
“This improved performance means Condor remains on track to return to profitability for the full year.
“So far, we are taking 1.5 million more customers on holiday this summer than we did three years ago, showing the growth in demand for our modern package and flight offer.
“We continue to innovate to broaden our appeal with the launch of a ‘Choose Your Room’ option in 300 of our core hotels for summer 2018.
“An 11% increase in bookings for this summer reflects good demand across all destinations. The pick-up in demand for Turkey we reported earlier in the year has continued, as customers are attracted to the quality and value on offer.
“As we go into the peak summer season, our holiday offering is in great shape. We have opened 11 new own-brand hotels for this summer, including a second Casa Cook, in Kos, offering affordable chic on the beach.
“We have also rolled out our 24-hour Satisfaction Promise to 2,000 hotels, giving 80 per cent of customers in our core sun & beach hotels an added level of reassurance.
“These initiatives have helped to deliver a seven-point increase in customer satisfaction year-on-year.”
He added: “As we said in May, we are experiencing pressure on margins to Spain in what is a competitive environment, though this is being mitigated by our focus on our own-brand and core hotel offering and supported by strong overall demand for our summer holidays.
“As a result, we continue to expect our full year underlying operating result to be in line with current market expectations.”
Meanwhile, Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, chief financial officer of InterContinental Hotels Group, was named as one of two new non-executive directors at Thomas Cook Group.
The other is Jürgen Schreiber chairman of the advisory board of shoe and accessories retailer Aldo Group.
Thomas Cook chairman Frank Meysman said: “Both have strong, relevant international experience across customer-facing businesses.
“I’m particularly pleased that we’ve been able to make these two appointments, which will help drive further strategic progress across the business.”
Edgecliffe-Johnson said: “It’s an exciting time to join Thomas Cook. It’s a great fit for my experience and I look forward to bringing my knowledge of the hotel sector to the work of the board.”
Schreiber said: “I am delighted to be joining the board of Thomas Cook. I look forward to help further embed the customer agenda and contribute to the growth of the business.”
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