Thomas cook highlights weak UK recovery

Travel giant Thomas Cook today revealed that the recovery in the UK summer holiday market had been weaker than hoped despite the disappointing summer weather.

But the German-owned group, which merged with MyTravel in June, said it believed that its financial performance in the year would meet expectations after a stronger performance in Northern and Western Europe.

In the UK, prices increased by 1% year on year, but the group added it had not been able to fully recover the increased costs of fuel by charging higher prices.

Additional air passenger duty has also acted as a brake on prices, after its customers were forced to pay around an extra €60m on the tax.