Thomas Cook will miss its full-year profit target after terrorist attacks in Turkey and Brussels sent holidaymakers elsewhere.
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Bookings in the three months to 30 June fell by 5% depressed by weak demand for Turkey.
Thomas
Cook has increased sales in other areas, such as the western
Mediterranean, while Bulgaria and Cuba have grown in popularity.
It now expects annual profit of £300m compared with between £310m-£335m.
Turkey
was Thomas Cook's second biggest market in 2015, according to
Hargreaves Lansdown. On Thursday, Turkey's Tourism Ministry said that
the number of overseas visitors to the country dropped by a record 41%
in June to 2.44 million people.
In June, 41 people were killed and
230 hurt in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul's Atatürk international
airport while a recent attempted coup against Turkey's President Erdogan
has increased tensions.
In March, explosions at Brussels airport and a subway claimed 32 lives and injured many others.
'Upheaval'
Thomas
Cook said third quarter revenue fell 8% to £1.8bn and underlying profit
shrank from £30m last year to £2m. Pre-tax losses grew from £44m in the
third quarter of last year to £64m.
However, shares in Thomas Cook jumped by 9% to 65.27p in early trading as winter bookings were ahead of expectations.
Laith
Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Thomas Cook is
facing severe disruptions right now, with political upheaval, acts of
terrorism, and the fall in the pound resulting from Brexit all serving
to deter holiday makers from travelling.
"On a positive note
bookings for this winter appear to be ahead of last year, though it's
still very early days on this front. The company's falling revenues were
greeted by a strong rise in the share price, which is testament to just
how low expectations were."
Thomas Cook chief executive Peter
Fankhauser, said: "We are operating in a challenging geopolitical
environment, with repeated disruption in some of our key source and
destination markets.
"In addition, while Brexit has had no
noticeable impact on our bookings so far, it has added to a general
sense of uncertainty - for our business and our customers alike."
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