Major holiday still a consumer priority, says Thomas Cook

TRAVEL giant Thomas Cook yesterday reported "robust" demand despite the economic gloom as travellers clung to their prized foreign holidays.

The company claimed there had been strong summer trading and "encouraging" early sales for next winter as it remained on track to meet expectations this year.

The firm has trimmed its capacity – meaning it has fewer holidays to sell in the heavily discounted "lates" market – which helped boost UK prices by 3 per cent.

The company said: "We have not seen any effect on our trading to date from the current economic conditions.

"We continue to believe this can be primarily attributed to the high priority that European consumers place on their major foreign holidays, and our ability to proactively manage the balance between supply and demand."

The company's update follows a buoyant trading statement from Thomson Holidays owner TUI Travel, which on Tuesday said holiday sales in the UK for the past six weeks were up 8 per cent on a year earlier, with 61 per cent of its UK programme booked.