Sunnier skies

5 May 2003

MyTravel and First Choice Holidays have seen summer bookings start to pick up following the end of war in Iraq. The operators were smart top cut capacity before the hostilities broke out. But it s not all sunny skies ahead yet.

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Rival UK tour operators MyTravel and First Choice Holidays reported improvement in bookings for the summer. MyTravel said UK summer bookings were up 3% on last year. It also has 40% of UK summer charter capacity left to sell, as compared with 49% last year. The company's group sales were down 3% as a result of more difficult trading conditions in Germany, Scandinavia and North America during the war in Iraq. First Choice said it had seen encouraging signs for summer tours sales in the last two weeks of April and expected fullyear profits to be in line with previous forecasts. Analysts are predicting profits of £82m for the company.

On Friday the German tour operator Tui announced that it aims to sell up to 300,000 holidays a year with its new discount brand, "Discount Travel".

Among the four major European tour operators, only Switzerland's Kuoni has been exposed to travellers' concerns over Sars.

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