TUI forecasts strong summer
TUI Travel, the world’s biggest tour operator, said it was on track to meet expectations for the full-year and that it expects to deliver a strong performance in its key summer trading period.
The group, which owns Thomson and First Choice, said it made an underlying operating loss of £317m in the six months to the end of March, compared with a £307m loss in the 2010/11 period.
Tour operators traditionally make a loss in the first half of the year, which does not include the key summer period.
TUI Travel, whose first half revenues rose five per cent to 5.44 billion pounds, said overall trading for summer 2012 was good with booking volumes well ahead of last year.
“We have seen improved summer 2012 trading performance in all other mainstream markets except France which remains difficult,” TUI Travel Chief Executive Peter Long said.
“Given the challenging economic environment, we remain cautious, however, overall trading performance continues to be in line with the board’s expectations.”
TUI Travel has benefited from difficulties experienced by main rival Thomas Cook, which issued a string of profit warnings last year before securing a three-year funding lifeline worth £1.4bn last week.