Kuoni reports healthy bookings for 2008

Switzerland's largest tour operator, Kuoni, says holiday bookings so far this year are 11 per cent up on the comparable period last year.

Kuoni, which is based in Zurich, said in a statement on Friday that the increase was due to a six per cent increase in organic growth. Acquisitions accounted for another four per cent.

However, there was a negative impact of four per cent as a result of the strengthening of the Swiss franc against the euro, the dollar and the British pound.

Kuoni said that bookings from Scandinavia were up by 36 per cent, there was an increase of 15 per cent from India, 11 per cent from France and seven per cent from Switzerland.

But bookings from Britain were down by seven per cent as a result of the weaker pound.

Kuoni said the continuation reflected the positive trend reported at its annual results conference in March. The company posted a net profit last year of SFr136.3 million ($135.5 million), a 16.8 per cent improvement compared with 2006 and the highest recorded by the group.