Thomas Cook

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Thomas Cook[i] is a multinational travel organization that was originally founded in 1841 by an Englishman who wanted to offer excursions to members of the temperance movement. It all began when Thomas Cook[ii], born in Melbourne Derbyshire, arranged Railway tickets and food with a local train company for a group of local members of the temperance movement. By the time he died in 1892, the company was selling in excess of 3.3 million tickets per year. By this stage, the company had been taken over by his son, John Mason Cook, who died in 1899 after contracting dysentery in Palestine the previous year.

The company actually remained within the Cook family until 1928. This was the year that it was sold to Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits[iii] (International Sleeping Car Company), the historical operator of the Orient express. Then, it became a nationalised company after the Second World War in 1948, was bought back from the government in 1972, was sold in quick succession to the Midland bank and Dun & Bradstreet. In 1977 the company opened its headquarters in Peterborough.

Two acquisitions in 1996 saw Thomas Cook acquiring a European city breaks tour operator known as “Time Off”. It also acquired Sunworld which was the fourth largest short haul tour operator in the UK and Ireland. 1997 saw the opening of Thomas Cook online. This was the first time a travel agency from the UK had offered customers a way of purchasing holidays, travellers cheques, travel insurance cover and guidebooks over the Internet.

In 2001, a new logo was launched after Thomas Cook Travel was acquired by C & N Touristic AG, then Germany’s second-largest tourist business. It was sold by Preussag AG after it had acquired Thomson Travel Group. Europe’s largest tourism company found it necessary to sell Thomas Cook because of monopolistic regulations. The company then changed its name to Thomas Cook AG.

In 2003 the company officially launched Thomas Cook Airlines. This Manchester-based charter airline carried over 8 million passengers in 2010. At the time it had a fleet of 40 Boeing and Airbus aircraft. The company also announced that it would be replacing all its 71 strong narrow body fleet of aircraft with Airbus A320s. This part of the company has won several awards including the silver award for the most environmentally responsible airline in 2008, and the summer 2006 award for runner-up UK charter airline for punctuality.Thomas Cook

2007 saw the merger of Thomas Cook AG with MyTravel Group Plc[iv]. The two companies would merge to form, Thomas Cook plc. MyTravel Group was a package holiday company which included brands such as Direct Holidays, Airtours, Panorama Travel, and Saga Solreiser in Scandinavia.

In 2008 the company acquired a very large stake in Thomas Cook India Ltd. It also bought 100% of Thomas Cook branded businesses in Egypt including licenses for 15 Middle Eastern countries. It also acquired several other companies including Canada’s tri-West travel and Hotels 4 U, an independent UK company.

In 2009, Arcanador AG’s shares were placed on the stock market meaning that 100% of the shares are now freely available at the stock exchange. In 2010,Think W3 is acquired.

Moving forward, Thomas Cook pl is focusing on travel related financial services, independent travel growth, and is also going to be attempting to extend itself further via mergers, partnerships, and acquisitions.

 

[i] Thomas Cook Travel Ltd

ABTA Number: J9375

Address:

Unit 1-3

Coningsby Road

Thomas Cook Business Park

Peterborough

Cambridgeshire

PE3 8SB

Telephone: 01733 417100

Fax: 01733 416360

Also trading as: Thomascook.com, cruisethomascook, cruisethomascook.com, Thomascook.co.uk

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