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Tui and Cook shares drop amid Turkish lira crisis

Tui, Thomas Cook and On the Beach have been caught up in the crisis surrounding the plunge in the value of the Turkish lira.

As the government in Turkey attempted to prop up its currency as a trade row with the US deepened, quoted travel companies offering holidays to the country were among the worst affected yesterday.

Tui fell to the bottom of the FTSE 100 yesterday with its shares losing 53p to a low of £15.13 at one point before recovering to be 39p down.

Shares in On the Beach fell 4.1%, while Thomas Cook lost more than 2p to under 86p.

Cook shares fell a further this morning to 84.75p while Tui and On the Beach showed a marginal recovery.

The financial crisis affecting Turkey was triggered by the US last week imposing sanctions over its refusal to extradite a US preacher imprisoned in the country.

The sanctions caused market turmoil, which the central bank attempted – but failed – to soothe with a series of market-boosting measures.

The lira lost 20% of its value against the dollar on Friday. It had already fallen more than 40% in the past year and has hit a record low.

While the collapse of the lira gave foreign tourists to Turkey more spending power, its stock market has fallen 17%, government borrowing costs have risen to 18% a year and inflation has hit 15%.

The pound was reported yesterday to be as much as 89% up on the lira compared to August last year and 37% up compared to last month.

Tourists changing £100 can expect to receive around 785 lira compared to 460 lira last year, excluding conversion fees. A local beer costs around 13 lira and a three course meal for two people 70 lira, according to internet cost of living database Numbeo.

Tui last week reported a strong growth in summer bookings to Turkey as the eastern Mediterranean destination continues to rebound from terrorist attacks and an attempted coup two years ago.

Thomas Cook previously reported a 63% increase in bookings to Turkey this year with Antalya overtaking Palma as Thomas Cook Airlines’ most-served airport for UK customers.

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