Thomas Cook Summer Bookings Down 5%

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) at Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) have slipped 19% to a three-year low, after the travel company revealed summer bookings had fallen 5% compared to last year.

The tour operator said it was seeing a “sharp decline in demand” as a result of the Brussels terror attacks and holidaymakers were delaying travel plans to popular destinations such as Turkey and Egypt amid safety fears.

"The attack at Brussels airport in March has significantly impacted our Belgian business, due to operational disruption to our flying programme, a high level of cancellations and a significant drop in customer demand," Thomas Cook said.

Revenues for the first half of the year dipped from £2.74bn to £2.57bn and pre-tax losses fell from £303m to £288m.

Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: "As we look ahead to our busiest period, Thomas Cook is trading well to destinations other than Turkey, with particularly strong bookings to Spain and the USA."

Mr Fankhauser also reassured the market that Thomas Cook is "well positioned to meet our existing growth expectations".