The group, majority-owned by German company TUI AG, has seen bookings hit this year by unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, from which it had to evacuate holidaymakers.

Chief executive Peter Long said the conflict in Libya allied with the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan had also combined to put customers off booking trips abroad.

“The view we take now is you have got to allow 30-40 million a year for events. That is the situation and we will absorb that within the business,” Long said.

TUI Travel, which owns Thomson and First Choice, said in March it expected unrest in Egypt and Tunisia to knock around 20 million pounds of its second-quarter profit.

Long said it would absorb the impact in its profit and loss account and not as an exceptional item.

“Disruption to the program is a normal course of business. The year it does not come we’ll make 30-40 million more,” he said.

Last year, TUI Travel took a hit of 104 million pounds from the impact of the volcanic ash cloud.

Long said the group had no plans to alert the market of any change in its profit expectations for the current year. Market expectations for earnings before interest and tax are between 447 and 493 million pounds, with an average of 471 million, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 15 analysts.

Long said that, leaving aside disruption from global events, demand for annual holidays was proving resilient despite austerity measures squeezing disposable incomes in Britain.

Britons are reluctant to sacrifice their summer holiday even when they are cutting back on other types of spending, he said.

A procession of British retailers have said trading conditions have got worse since Christmas, adding to fears the government’s fiscal squeeze aimed at slashing its deficit is too much, too soon, for a country emerging from a deep recession.

“We are not seeing a mirror of what is happening on the high street,” Long said.

“It is about choices, what you do with your disposable income when there is less of it. I do not believe a large number of our customers are going to stay at home.”

The group is hoping to see an uplift in bookings at the end of April as customers take advantage of the extra bank holiday for the royal wedding on April 29 and two Easter bank holidays.

Long said TUI Travel is taking a “selective” approach to acquisitions and targeting expansion into BRIC countries but will not overpay for acquisitions. It has already moved into the rapidly growing Russian market through a joint venture with steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov.

“What we are doing in Russia is very important for us. We will not rush out and do a big consolidation. The market is interesting long-term but volatile in the short-term,” he said.

Long said opportunities in BRIC countries were complicated by high valuations on travel companies in those regions.

“We have studied the BRIC economies They are clearly attractive from a growth perspective. There are strong national operators but anything trading on a high multiple when you are a low multiple is not attractive,” he said.

The group will instead look to expand its online presence in those regions, Long added.

Shares in TUI Travel were up 0.8 percent to 227.8 pence at 1129 GMT, outperforming the wider FTSE 100 index.

TUI Travel is due to give a trading update on Thursday with rival Thomas Cook updating the market on Tuesday.