Thomas Cook Group now has a 10% rise in bookings for this summer thanks to a boom in Greece sales and is seeing signs of an upturn in demand for Turkey and Egypt.
Europe’s second-largest tourism group this week confirmed the main sales trends for summer 2017 and its profit outlook for this year. The UK-based group has a 10% increase in bookings for this summer, driven by strong demand for Greece and smaller destinations, including Cyprus, Bulgaria, Croatia and Portugal. The group has so far sold 42% of its summer 2017 programme capacity, which is 1% more than at the same time last year.
CEO Peter Fankhauser commented: “Customers’ appetite to go abroad on holiday this summer is good across all our markets despite continued political and economic uncertainty. Our decision to expand our holiday offering to Greece has helped support customer demand, with bookings to Greece up by around 40% versus last year, while smaller destinations like Cyprus, Bulgaria and Croatia are also proving popular.”
He emphasised: “After a slow start to the season and a tough year in 2016, we’re seeing early signs that customers are beginning to go back to Turkey and Egypt. 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.”
Among source markets, bookings in Continental Europe are “significantly higher”, with double digit growth in most markets, although margins are slightly below last year’s levels. Cook did not disclose sales figures for Germany, its largest market in the region, but Germany chief Stefanie Berk told fvw at ITB that the tour operator has “a high single-digit” sales increase for this summer.
Condor, which flew into the red last year, has refocused its programme on selected routes resulting in a double-digit percentage increase in bookings, despite continuing overcapacity to certain destinations. However, pricing across both short and long-haul destinations remains weak, as anticipated, with average selling prices down 6%. “Our plan to increase Condor’s profitability in the second half of the year remains on track,” the group stated.
In the UK, Thomas Cook is focusing on selling higher margin, quality holidays rather than pursuing volume growth amid a more competitive market to the Spanish Islands. As a result, charter risk pricing is up 9%, while bookings are slightly behind last year. For the UK as a whole, including seat-only and non-risk package holidays, bookings are flat overall and average selling prices are up 3%.
Elsewhere, Northern Europe continues to trade very well, with bookings up by 11% and average prices up 2%, boosted by strong demand for own-brand hotels and differentiated holiday offering.
For winter 2016/17, Cook has a 1% rise in bookings, with average selling prices down 1%. Sales have been driven by a 6% rise in the UK which has offset a 2% fall in Continental Europe and a slight decline in Northern Europe.
