Thomas Cook: Double-digit Growth in Summer 2017 Bookings to Greece

Thomas Cook’s second Casa Cook brand opened in Greece this year in Marmari on Kos.

Thomas Cook, Europe’s second-largest tourism group, has recorded a robust 22 percent increase in summer 2017 bookings for Greece compared to the previous year.

According to the group’s financial results for the April-June third quarter, the company’s decision to expand its holiday offering to Greece this season was “paying off” with good volume growth. The tour operator is also seeing strong demand for Cyprus and Bulgaria with bookings up by 14 and 19 percent respectively. Moreover, the tour operator said that bookings to Spain are broadly in line with last year and to Turkey were showing signs of recovery.

Thomas Cook’s leisure airline Condor is seeing significant demand for Greece this year.

While referring to the company’s expansion of its holiday offering, Thomas Cook’s CEO, Peter Fankhauser, also underlined that the group’s second Casa Cook brand opened in Greece on Kos, following the opening of the country’s first Casa Cook on Rhodes last May.

Overall, Thomas Cook’s group-wide bookings for summer 2017 are 11 percent ahead of last year.

In addition, the tour operator’s leisure airline Condor is recording an increase in bookings by 14 percent. The German airline’s volume growth has been driven by significant demand for Greece, as well as an expansion of the long-haul program into North America. Condor has already announced increased flights to Greece for next season.

Greece is expected to welcome over 28.5 million tourists this season. According to reports, considering that the average tourist expenditure in Greece recovers, total revenues are expected to move between 14.2 – 14.5 billion euros. of Greece data recently showed that during the first five months of the year, arrivals from France increased by 13.7 percent, from Germany by 20.8 percent and from the United Kingdom by 0.2 percent.