Thomas Cook reports weak summer bookings

26th Sep 2013 07:29

Tour operator Thomas Cook reported a fall in bookings in the UK over summer and flat sales in Europe.In a trading update ahead of the company's full-year 2013 results in November, the group said UK bookings were down 3% on last year with a capacity reduction of 2.5%. In Continental Europe bookings were flat year-on-year with capacity reductions of 10% and bookings in Northern Europe were down 1%.However weak bookings were mitigated by a rise average selling prices - up 4.5% in the UK and 1% in Continental and Northern Europe.The company said summer trading was in line with expectations and was over 95% sold. "On a cumulative basis across the group as a whole, bookings have outperformed our planned capacity management by over 4%," the firm said in a statement.Thomas Cook added that Airlines Germany was closing the year strongly with bookings and average selling prices both up around 3% on last year.Moving into winter, trading has started more slowly than last year due to geopolitical events. "However, we continue to pursue an active capacity management strategy, matching committed capacity to demand and, as a consequence, it is encouraging to note that average selling prices are up strongly in all markets," the company said.The tourism group is working on improving integration of business lines and providing new product ranges to grow profits. Full-year results are expected to be in line with market expectations. RD