Holiday group TUI Travel has reported strong results for its winter season and revealed a boost in summer trading for 2008, despite consumer spending tightening due to the economic slowdown.
TUI, which acquired First Choice in September 2007, said its operating loss for the first half had improved by £71 million, driven by French sales and strong results in the UK and Nordic countries.
Europe's biggest travel firm reported an underlying pre-tax loss of £294m, compared with a loss of £339m for the first six months of 2007.
The company said it saw no signals that the economic slowdown had dented sales and confirmed that it will meet its expectations for the year ending September 30th, 2008.
Current trading for this summer is up eight per cent in the UK, with 21 per cent less product left to sell and strong pricing achieved over the last six weeks, the company said.
The group, which also owns the Thomson travel group, added that winter trading for the 2008/2009 season is also looking promising, with sales up 15 per cent in the UK, even though it had 16 per cent less capacity.
TUI chief executive Peter Long said: "We see no evidence of deteriorating consumer sentiment in our booking patterns, in the average holiday duration booked, average selling price or cancellation rates ."
"This confirms our research that the annual holiday is an important component of the family budget" .
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