Holiday company Tui Travel has revealed that the Tunisian beach attacks cost it as much as €40m (£28m) in cancelled bookings and empty hotel costs.
Of the 38 people killed on the beach at Sousse in June, 33 were on a Tui package holiday, as were many of the injured.
Peter Long, joint-chief executive of Tui, said the human tragedy had dominated the firm’s business over its most recent financial quarter.
“These were the most horrific events that I and my company have ever had to deal with,” he told journalists.
“I and all my colleagues still remain in deep shock about the tragic loss of life and injuries to our customers.
“Our priority has been to support our customers, their families and our colleagues impacted by these horrendous event and this will continue. I am immensely proud of the commitment and dedication that we as an organisation have collectively shown.”
The company, which owns First Choice and Airtours, said the attacks had cost it €10m in repatriation costs and cancelled bookings in June, although the total bill rose to around €35m-€40m once the cost of empty hotel rooms in Tunisia was counted.
Within hours of the attacks, Tui put 18 extra flights in the air to bring home customers. The company also expanded its summer holiday programme, adding 26 new flights to destinations in Spain, Cyprus and Bulgaria to allow customers bound for Tunisia to rebook holidays.
Before the attacks Tui sent half-a-million tourists a year to Tunisia, with the North African country accounting for 3% of total bookings.
In a blow to Tunisia’s struggling tourist industry, Long said there were no guarantees it would restart holidays in Tunisia once Foreign Office advice on travel to the country changes.
“We will not make a decision regarding recommencement of our [Tunisia] programmes until the Foreign Office advice is lifted and they say it is safe to travel again. And then, to be quite frank, there will be a combination of our thoughts about that and what our customers are telling us about their desire to go back to the country.”
“Whilst we remain mindful of the importance of tourism to the country … in terms of the depth of sorrow within our organisation, we are incredibly concerned about security for our customers.”
Despite the attacks in Tunisia, Tui reported 18% growth in earnings on last year, to €194m for the three months ending 30 June, due to strong demand from the UK and an increase in long-haul bookings to destinations such as Mexico and Jamaica.
The company also managed to shrug off the Greek financial crisis, with bookings for Greece up on last year. Although Tui recorded a slowdown in bookings in late June when Greece teetered on the brink of financial meltdown, the company said bookings had since recovered and were now running higher than last year.
Asked about whether the crisis in Greece had eaten into company takings, Long said: “We don’t think there is an impact for Greece.”
