British sun-seekers snapping up long-haul holidays, says Tui

The travel giant’s northern region, which includes the UK market, recorded an 11 per cent and 10 per cent jump in revenues for the winter and summer periods respectively.

The rise was underpinned by a healthy rise in bookings by British holidaymakers, with revenues climbing by a fifth for the winter of 2016/17 and by 11 per cent for the summer of 2017.

Chief executive Friedrich Joussen said winter trading had been helped by a “good performance” from its hotels and resorts arm, while summer bookings were in line with forecasts.

He added: “Whilst the impact of macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges is evident in certain source markets and destinations, our balanced portfolio of markets and destinations, our focus on growth in own hotel and cruise brands and our strong balance sheet put us in a robust position.”

The group said winter revenues had been boosted by a growing appetite for long-haul and cruise holidays from the UK, coupled with a stronger demand for trips to the Canary Islands, Spain and Cape Verde.

Summer holiday bookings were being driven by rising demand for holidays to the western Mediterranean and the Caribbean, the firm added.

However, bookings to Turkey and Egypt suffered, as holidaymakers remain cautious about the destinations following 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.