The travel agent said the cause of the poor perfomance was a combination of the ash cloud disruption earlier in the year, reasonable UK weather earlier in the summer and economic fears. The ash cloud was particularly disruptive. But for the April and May disruption, profits would have been up by around 10 per cent.

Thomas Cook still has 30,000 August holidays unsold, so there may be some good last minute deals on offer for bargain hungry holidaymakers who can leave at a moment’s notice.

TUI’s chief executive, Peter Long, said that the group, along with other travel agents, would be looking to be compensated for their losses by national governments. He believes that a government overreaction to the eruption led to the losses and therefore the governments are responsible.

Long says that it is unlikely TUI will receive the full amount, but thinks there is a chance they could receive somewhere in the region of £60 million.

The travel firm says that it has seen a 30 per cent improvement in bookings in the last month, particularly UK holidaymakers, keen to get away in the summer.

A lot of the success is being put down to the memorable TV adverts featuring Jamie and Louise Redknapp, with Thomas Cook describing the response as ‘incredible’. The campaign is now going to run throughout the summer, where ordinarily such campaigns end much sooner. Thomas Cook’s TV ad budget has consequently been increased to £6.5m from £2.5m.

Thomas Cook shares rose by 3.6 per cent on the back of this news and the mood is one of cautious optimism. The best-selling holidays have been to mid-haul destinations outside the eurozone, such as Turkey and Egypt.

Property pages will each feature the most recent reviews from TripAdvisor. The presence of independent, user-generated review content should allow potential Thomas Cook travellers to make more informed decisions about where they want to go.

Thomas Cook will also benefit from destination information, including overviews of cities and resorts, including details of nearby attractions, restaurants as well as photographs that have been uploaded by TripAdvisor users.

It will be interesting to see how Thomas Cook react if poor reviews for their holidays start showing up on their own website.

While the travel agent recorded losses of £81.5m for the three months from October to December, it makes most of its money during the summer months. This year, it is concentrating on higher margin medium-haul holidays.

The distinctive adverts feature Jamie and Louise Redknapp experiencing a ‘perfect’ holiday together, Jamie Redknapp kicking a ball around the beach while wearing a pair of suit trousers and Louise Redknapp reclining by the pool on her own. The campaign was said to have cost in the region of £5m, but Thomas Cook will be hoping to recoup far more than that as sales continue to pick up.