TUI Group has seen its underlying EBITA improve by 18.6 per cent in the three months from April to June 2015, increasing to €194.2 million.

The operating result includes foreign exchange translation effects and the impact of the Easter business, which did not fall fully into the quarter under review in this calendar year.

Excluding these effects, underlying EBITA totalled €185 million, a strong increase of 13 per cent year-on-year.

However, the period was overshadowed by a terrorist attack in Tunisia at the end of June.

“Supporting the families of the victims, customers and its employees remains the highest priority of the group,” TUI said in a statement.

The impact of the attack in Tunisia resulted in repatriation and cancellation costs of around €10 million in the quarter.

However, cumulative group-wide summer bookings to Greece remain ahead of last year despite some temporary small deviations in source markets Germany and Belgium.

Fritz Joussen and Peter Long, joint chief executives of the TUI Group, said: “The third quarter was marked by the tragic event in Tunisia.

“Supporting our customers, their families and our colleagues through this sad time remains our highest priority.

“We are very proud of the commitment and dedication our colleagues have shown throughout this unprecedented situation.

“The development of the events in Tunisia, however, also demonstrates the resilience, robustness and flexibility of our integrated business model and our new group structure.

“We are able to accelerate our group’s growth through the successful integration and consistent implementation of our strategy.”

Turnover increased by 6.4 per cent to €5.08 billion over the period.

In the first nine months of the financial year revenue grew by €6.9 per cent to €12.02 billion, while trading for summer 2015 was “robust”.