Fewer Britons choosing EU countries for holidays

Fewer Britons have booked a summer holiday inside the European Union (EU) this year amid continuing Brexit uncertainty, according to leading travel firm Thomas Cook.

In a statement on Sunday, the travel firm said almost half (48 per cent) of the holidays it sold up until the end of February were to non-EU destinations, up 10 per cent on last year, the BBC reported.

Despite this, the firm says Spain is still its most popular destination.

Thomas Cook - through which 19 million people book holidays each year - said after Spain, Turkey had proved the most popular destination for its holiday-makers, accounting for a quarter of its flight-only bookings so far.

The company said that Tunisia was also "faring well" with package bookings to the country double that of last year, with flight-only bookings up four-fold.

Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser said it was still too early to tell the impact on bookings of the UK's exit from the EU being delayed to the end of October.

But he said there was "little doubt that the prolonged uncertainty around the manner and timing of Britain's exit from the EU has led many customers to press pause on their holiday plans for this summer".

--IANS

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