Thomas Cook counting the financial cost of terrorism
Holiday firm, Thomas Cook, has seen its shares fall 18% as bookings have dropped off in the face of increased fears over terrorism. Its shares are at their lowest point for three years, and summer bookings are currently down 5% on 2015 due to less demand for holidays in Egypt, Tunisia, and Turkey. While demand for other destinations, such as Spain, has risen, this has failed to compensate for the wider drop-off in customer interest. The company said that it expected its full-year underlying earnings to be between £310m and £335m. 

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

Thomas Cook shares have tumbled after the travel company warned that the number of bookings decreased due to terror fears.

Cook’s share price fell by more than 18 per cent, the lowest in three years, as the holiday company revealed summer bookings were down 5 per cent on last year due to falling demand for holidays to Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt.

Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Thomas Cook, also admitted the company saw a sharp decline in demand in Belgium following the attack at Brussels airport in March.

Recommended Read more EasyJet profits have been hit by terror fears

The results coincided with EgyptAir Flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo crashing in unknown circumstances after going missing for a few hours.

Fankhauser said that demand for other destinations such as the Canary Islands and Spain has risen, but did not make up for the fall in bookings to Turkey, Cook’s second largest market in 2015.

“As we look ahead to our busiest period, Thomas Cook is trading well to destinations other than Turkey, with particularly strong bookings to Spain and the USA. However, demand for Turkey – our second largest market last year – remains significantly below last year’s levels,” he said.

Fankhauser also addressed the Corfu inquest, describing it as “a turning point” for the business.

“It was clear to me that we needed to change our mindset and put the customer back at the heart of our business,” he said.

Thomas Cook said it expected full-year underlying earnings to be between £310m and £335m, at the lower end of analysts’ expectations.

Increased security threats around the world have hit the travel industry this year.

The countries most impacted by global terrorism Show all 11 1 / 11 The countries most impacted by global terrorism The countries most impacted by global terrorism Thailand Thailand The countries most impacted by global terrorism Libya Libya The countries most impacted by global terrorism Somalia Somalia The countries most impacted by global terrorism Yemen Yemen The countries most impacted by global terrorism India India The countries most impacted by global terrorism Syria Syria The countries most impacted by global terrorism Pakistan Pakistan The countries most impacted by global terrorism Nigeria Nigeria The countries most impacted by global terrorism Afghanistan Afghanistan The countries most impacted by global terrorism Iraq Iraq The countries most impacted by global terrorism France

Holiday bookings to Turkey were down 40 per cent at Tui, the world’s largest package holiday business, over terrorism fears in February. However, the travel giant still expects to increase earnings by 10 per cent in 2016.

EasyJet swung to a pre-tax loss of £24 million ($35 million) from a profit of £7 million a year earlier, the company reported in May.

EasyJet halted flights to Sinai after the bombing of a Russian tourist jet in October, while November’s Paris shootings and the March 22 attacks on Brussels have further weighed on sales.