LOSSES at travel giant Thomas Cook narrowed in the third quarter as bookings to Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus drove sales.
The group – which has branches in Barrow, Ulverston, Carlisle, Kendal, Penrith, Whitehaven and Workington – said it saw a "significant growth" in holidaymakers visiting the three nations, with Greece the standout performer with a 22 per cent increase.
This helped boost revenues by more than 20 per cent to £2.3bn in the three months to June 30, meaning that pre-tax losses narrowed from £64m to £31m.
Thomas Cook also confirmed that bookings to Turkey were recovering after terrorist attacks and political instability.
Demand for trips to Egypt and Turkey plunged after the bombing of a plane from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and a violent attempted coup by the Turkish army, which has been followed by a string of terrorist attacks in the country.
Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: "Our increased focus on the customer is reflected in a good performance for the third quarter."
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