German travellers - the long-standing global travel champions - have shaken off worries about terrorism with holiday companies on Tuesday reporting a strong rebound in vacation bookings for this year.
A year ago many German travellers put their holiday plans on hold in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris, Istanbul and Brussels after the tourist industry enjoyed a record year in 2015.
But on Tuesday travel companies and researchers said that bookings for this year's key Northern Hemisphere summer holiday season starting in June were running higher than the same time last year.
Leading travel group Thomas Cook said in a statement that vacation bookings had so far jumped by 10 per cent compared with 2016.
"The desire of holidaymakers travelling abroad this summer in all our markets is good, despite the political and economic uncertainty," said Thomas Cook chief executive Peter Fankhauser, whose company has operations in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia and Belgium.
Thomas Cook's rivals, TUI and Frankfurt-based tour operator DER Touristik, also reported a rise in this year's summer bookings by German holidaymakers.
The Nuremberg-based GfK marketing research group also pointed to a rebound in summer travel.
The GfK said travel agencies across Germany had recorded a 5-per-cent gain in bookings for this year's summer season during the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year.