Thomas Cook to Take Tunisia and Eygpt Hit
The tour operator Thomas Cook has estimated the disruption to its trading caused by any political unrest in Egypt and Tunisia has cost the company about £20m.
The company has suffered around 150,000 cancellations due to the political unrest in the countries. The company has also had to take a hit to pay for the cost of repatriating tourists back to Britain.
Business in Europe was “progressing well”, the firm had said, as bookings are ahead of last year in many countries. Despite this UK trading was weaker, this has been largely due to “fragile consumer sentiment”. In response to the downturn, the company has said that it was taking “a more prudent approach to capacity”. The tour operator said that it was now flying into Egypt and Tunisia from the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium, and would re-start flights to the two destinations from Northern Europe towards the end of May.
The disruption to all the flights would cost £15m in lost trade and £5m in repatriation costs, the company has said. Thomas Cook also added that fuel prices had risen by about 20% since the start of this year, this meant it had to introduce fuel supplements in some markets. The operator also said that it expected to receive clearance from the competition authorities for its joint venture with Russia’s Intourist in May.
“Overall, the business is performing well, given the disruption caused by the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia,” said group chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa. “Summer bookings are ahead of last year across most segments, with particularly strong growth in our German tour operator and airline.”
