Thomas Cook counts cost of unrest

Travel firm Thomas Cook warns that the political unrest in Egypt and Tunisia will hit its profits by an estimated £20m.

TUI Travel warned Thursday that political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia could cost Europe's largest tour operator up to £30 million ($49 million, 35 million euros)."We are closely monitoring events in Egypt and Tunisia and the safety of our customers is our primary consideration," said chief executive Peter Long in the group's first-quarter results statement."Early indications are that customers are choosing to rebook to alternative destinations and we are taking action to remix our programmes in line with customer demand."

Thomas Cook Group PLC said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its North American operations to Red Label Vacations Inc. for $5.3-million. Red Label, which operates the vacation website Redtag.ca, said the deal would see it take over the operations of Thomas Cook Canada Inc. and Thomas Cook USA Holdings, Inc., which operates as a tour operator and distribution network in Canada.

Spain's Canary Islands could get 300,000 extra tourists this winter as northern European sunseekers shun Egypt and Tunisia because of the political unrest in the two nations, officials said Monday.Both nations have emerged in recent years as cheaper alternatives to the Canaries for those seeking a winter break by the beach but the deadly political violence that erupted in both nations last month has forced tourists to flee.

What’s the link between inequality and social unrest? It’s tempting, looking at Tunisia and Egypt and even student demos in the UK, to believe that inequality causes unrest*. Such an inference might, however, arise from a couple of errors: the availability heuristic which leads us to infer too much from high-profile rare events; and a confusion of correlation and causality.

Irish airline Aer Lingus says the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud last month has cost it about 20m euros.

John Nyaradi submits:By John Nyaradi