Revenue at Peterborough-based holiday giant Thomas Cook has fallen following terror attacks at some of its key destinations.
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In June, 41 people were killed and 230 hurt in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul’s Atatürk worldwide airport while a recent attempted coup against Turkey’s President Erdogan has increased tensions.
Pre-tax losses grew from £44m in the third quarter of past year to £64m.
The company forecast annual operating profit of £300 million ($395 million, 356 million euros), down from its prior guidance for between £310 million and £355 million that was given in May. The tour operator said in May that it expects underlying earnings to be between GBP310 million and GBP335 million.
“We have made further capacity cuts to Turkey for summer 2016 and switched this into alternative destinations including Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Cuba and the United States of America”, the firm said. Growth to smaller destinations such as Bulgaria and Cuba is also strong.
Bookings to Spain’s Canary Islands are up by 18%, with a 30% increase in bookings for holidays in the US.
The company says its summer 2016 programme is 81 per cent sold – three per cent below the same period previous year.
The British travel operator said bookings were down by 5% because of continued weak demand in Turkey, prompting the company to shift its capacity to other routes. But that is still a long way short of its high of 130.11p.
Its shares, which have more than halved in the last 12 months, initially opened down but jumped 7 percent when Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser pledged to pay the dividend.
The impact would have been greater but for a £32m foreign exchange boost from the weakening of the pound since the European Union referendum.
Thomas Cook said Brexit has had no noticeable impact on bookings so far.
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“Against this backdrop, our focus is to give customers great quality holidays as part of a package that provides the reassurance that they will be cared for at all points, from booking their holiday through to their return home”. Fankhauser said: “Our all-inclusive holidays in particular enable customers to enjoy their holidays without worrying about unexpected costs”.
