Shares in Tui Travel and Thomas Cook took a dive on the Stock Exchange yesterday amid concerns over the impact of the UK heatwave on late foreign holiday bookings.
Thomson and First Choice owner Tui Travel fell as much as 4.5% before closing 2.9% lower at 365.5p, dropping from an all-time high.
Thomas Cook slid 2.1% to 142.6p, after earlier losing as much as 3%.
Budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair were among the fallers, with the former dipping 8p to £13.50 in London, and the latter declining 12.8 cents to €6.95 in Dublin.
“Hot weather here means no one wants to go away on holiday abroad,” Karl Burns, an analyst at stockbroker Panmure Gordon told the Daily Telegraph.
“Typically, these shares are quite sensitive to the late bookings market,” he said, adding that weak demand may lead to discounting.
Goodbody Stockbrokers expert Donal O’Neill said he had spoken to operators and airlines in both the UK and Ireland to assess the impact on their latest trading.
“We understand that there has been some negative impact on late bookings across the scheduled and charter airline space with holiday-goers choosing domestic summer destinations over traditional European sun hot spots,” he said.
“There was broad agreement that a continuation of trend could take some of the froth out of margins.”
The City impact was felt after Travel Weekly reported On Holiday Group chief executive Steve Endacott’s warning that the current heat wave has caused a slump in sales almost as dramatic as during 2010’s Icelandic ash cloud crisis.