Thomas Cook

Foreign holidays remain a top priority for Europeans despite economic and security worries, tour operator Thomas Cook said on March 28, reporting a 40 percent jump in bookings to Greece and signs of a recovery in travel to Turkey and Egypt.

"Customers' appetite to go abroad on holiday this summer is good across all our markets," CEO Peter Fankhauser said.

The Germans choose Greece and they raise the country’s expectations to 3.5 million tourists this year, compared with the 12% increase last year and the 3,14 million tourists of 2016. This number derives from the International ITB Tourist Exhibition in Berlin.

British travel group Thomas Cook said on Feb. 9 that demand for holidays in Egypt is picking up again, after unrest in the North African nation had pushed holidaymakers into choosing rival sun spots.

Thomas Cook says it will double the number of agent “fam trips” for its independent partners this year.

The fam trips-abbreviated vesion of familiarisation trips- will include long haul destinations Florida and Mauritius, as well as Croatia, Turkey, Majorca, Tenerife, Santorini and Cape Verde.

Greece accounted for 17 percent of all Christmas weekend searches for summer 2017 holiday packages at Thomas Cook, the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) revealed on Friday.

According to the report on the TTG website, Greece was at the single most searched-for destination on thomascook.com by Britons on the Christmas Day and Boxing Day holidays.

British travel company Thomas Cook posted broadly flat annual profit after its attempt to grow was hampered by customers turning their backs on holidays to Turkey, and said it was encouraged by future demand for trips abroad.

British travel company Thomas Cook stuck to its annual profit guidance on Sept. 27, after strong demand for summer holidays to destinations other than Turkey helped offset pressure on the group.

With many Russians holidaying elsewhere due to the now-resolved row between Moscow and Ankara, Turkey stands to lose between $8 billion and $10 billion in tourism revenue by the end of the year, according to Çetin Gürcün, the secretary-general of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TURSAB). 

British holiday company Thomas Cook said customers were delaying booking holidays, uncertain of making plans as they see previously popular destinations such as Turkey as less safe.

German travelers' bookings for summer holidays in Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey have dropped around 40 percent compared with a year ago, reflecting tourists' concern over security, German travel association DRV said on March 3.