Thomas Cook warns of weak trading after civil unrest

Thomas Cook said winter bookings have been helped by Royal Wedding interest

Unrest in key tourism destinations such as Tunisia and Egypt have weighed heavily on profits at Thomas Cook.

Europe's second largest travel firm saw half-year operating losses widen by £36m to £166m as travellers cancelled bookings and shunned the resorts.

Thomas Cook warned of a further impact in the second half of £35m, adding that the UK market remained tough.

The firm is restructuring, having made about 500 redundancies and closed its defined benefit pension scheme.

Despite weakness in the UK, summer bookings at operations in the rest of Europe are strong, Thomas Cook said in a statement.

UK bookings for its winter season are up 1%, which the firm attributed to interest following the Royal Wedding.

Thomas Cook's first half performance was also impacted by the timing of the Easter break, which fell in the second half of the firm's financial year.