The tour operator revealed that it had reduced its first-half pre-tax loss but said that bookings for summer 2016 were down 5% as customers continue to shun Turkey.
Thomas Cook’s loss before tax fell from £303 million to £288 million, while revenue dropped from £2.74 billion to £2.67 billion.
Like other travel firms it has had had to shift capacity from destinations in the Middle East and North Africa, with holidaymakers increasingly favour traditional areas such as Spain and Portugal.
The impact of Turkey – Thomas Cook’s second largest market last year – continues to affect the business. Excluding the destination, bookings for summer 2016 are up 6%, but including it, they are down 5%.
Destinations such as the Balearics (+14%) the Canaries (+23%) and the US (+29%) are all performing well.
Despite the problems in Turkey, Cook said it still expected to hit "existing growth expectations" by full-year 2018.
Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Cook, said: "Thomas Cook has made significant progress in the last six months. Despite disruption in some of our key markets, we’ve managed to slightly grow our revenues on a like-for-like basis, having anticipated the shift in demand away from Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt and into the Western Mediterranean and long haul destinations.
"At the same time, we’ve increased our underlying gross margin by 10 basis points thanks to our focus on selling higher quality holidays. The launch of Casa Cook in Rhodes this month is a great example of how we are widening our appeal to independent, style-conscious travellers.”
The winter months are frequently loss-making for tour operators, who make most of their money during the peak summer months.
Cook announced its first profit in five years last November, having almost gone out of business in 2011.
Rival Tui Group revealed a small improvement in its first-half performance earlier this month. It also announced that it was putting up its specialist division of more than 50 travel brands up for sale.
