Thomas Cook:

"Thomas Cook is the world’s best-known name in travel, thanks to the inspiration and dedication of a single man. Thomas Cook began his international travel company in 1841, with a successful one-day rail excursion at a shilling a head from Leicester to Loughborough on 5 July. From these humble beginnings Thomas Cook launched a whole new kind of company – devoted to helping Britons see the world.

Today Thomas Cook offers holidays to more than 1,000 locations. The latest to be introduced have been Costa Rica, Kerala, Brazil, Australia and Sardinia, which are all proving very popular with customers for summer 2007.

Thomas Cook UK & Ireland is one of the UK's largest travel companies, employing around 11,000 people. The company's principal operations include 570 high street shops selling travel and foreign exchange, 121 separate bureaux de change, seven Thomas Cook travel warehouses, three call centres, Thomas Cook TV and thomascook.com, one of the most popular UK travel websites.

In addition, Thomas Cook has more than ten tour operating brands including: Thomas Cook, JMC, Sunset, Thomas Cook Signature, Club 18-30, Flexibletrips.com, Neilson, Latitude, Sunworld Holidays and Style Holidays. The company also operates Thomas Cook Airlines, the UK's second largest leisure airline.

Ownership

Thomas Cook UK Ltd is owned by Thomas Cook AG, formerly C & N Touristic AG. Thomas Cook AG announced its acquisition of Thomas Cook UK Ltd in December 2000, with EC approval granted in February 2001. Thomas Cook AG is now the second largest travel group in Europe and the third largest in the world. Thomas Cook AG is wholly owned by German retail group, KarstadtQuelle, after Lufthansa sold it’s 50 per cent stake in the company in December 2006.

Company structure

Manny Fontenla-Novoa was appointed Chief Executive of Thomas Cook UK Ltd in January 2003. In December 2006 he was appointed Chairman and Group CEO of Thomas Cook AG. The headquarters for Thomas Cook UK Ltd is at: Coninsgby Road, Peterborough PE3 8SB.

With 163 years’ experience of booking travel and holidays for millions of customers every year, Thomas Cook is one of the UK’s leading travel companies.

Thomas Cook is the second largest Travel Group in Europe (Source: TravelTrack).

Thomas Cook Airlines is the second biggest Leisure Airline in the UK and has been named as ‘Best-performing airline’ for two years running (Source: Holiday Which?).

Thomas Cook is the UK’s market leader in holidays to Turkey, Cuba, Portugal, Rhodes, Zante, Canada and Egypt (Source: ACNielson).

thomascook.com - Our World Revolves Around You."

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