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Thomas Cook: A timeline of the world’s oldest tour operator

Simon calder explores 10 key years that tell the story of the legacy travel company, article bookmarked.

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As we say goodbye to the world’s oldest tour operator, here are the most important years in Thomas Cook ’s illustrious history.

1841: Rail revolution

Thomas Cook single-handedly industrialises railway tourism – chartering a train to take 500 passengers about 10 miles from Leicester to the neighbouring town of Loughborough on Monday 5 July.

The fare for the round-trip is one shilling and sixpence (7.5p). A spiritual and abstinent man, Cook organised the trip to attend a Temperance meeting. But for many of the participants, the attraction was the opportunity to travel by train for the first time.

1855: Cook goes international

The international exposition in Paris, set in the dramatic surroundings of Baron Haussmann’s newly redrawn city, provided the perfect target for Thomas Cook’s first international expedition. The steadily rising incomes and increased aspirations of the middle classes brought about by the industrial revolution convinced Cook that there would be a market for trips from London to Paris.

He offered a complete holiday “package” (comprising travel and accommodation, as well as meals) for the first time.

1865: A travel agent is born

Thomas Cook opens a travel agency in Fleet Street, central London. It coincides with the opening of the London Underground, the world’s first subterranean railway.

1874: Cheque it out

“Cook’s Circular Note,” the prototype of the traveller’s cheque, is launched – providing a safe and easy way to carry funds abroad.

1892: Next generation

Thomas Cook dies in Leicester. The business is taken on by his son, John Mason Cook – whose initials are later used for a rebrand of the firm’s package holidays (an experiment which is swiftly and expensively reversed).

1928: Up for sale

The last two Cooks, Thomas’s grandsons Frank and Ernest, retire. They sell the business to the first of many outside owners, the railway sleeping car firm Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits.

1948: Nationalisation

During the nationalisation of the UK’s railways, Thomas Cook somewhat bizarrely also becomes state-owned. Two years later, the first, embryonic mass-market package holidays by air are sold by a young man called Vladimir Raitz – comprising flights from Gatwick to Corsica, a tent on a beach and non-rationed meals.

1972: Staying the course

Thomas Cook reverts to the private sector, with the Midland Bank, hoteliers Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association buying the firm. Two years, the economic gloom of the “Three-day Week” precipitated by a miners’ strike, amplified by the Middle East oil crisis, finished off many travel companies. But not Thomas Cook.

1992: New owners

A German consortium, comprising Westdeutsche Landesbank and the LTU Group, acquire the Thomas Cook Group.

2019: It's all over

The Thomas Cook Group, by now an Anglo-German firm, ceases trading at 2am on Monday, 23 September

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Thomas Cook collapses: Why and what happens now?

LONDON (REUTERS) - Thomas Cook, the world's oldest travel firm, collapsed on Monday (Sept 23), stranding hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history.

What happens now and why did it collapse?

WHO IS AFFECTED?

The firm ran hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million travellers a year in 16 countries, generating revenue in 2018 of £9.6 billion (S$16.5 billion). It currently has 600,000 people abroad, including more than 150,000 British citizens.

Thomas Cook employs 21,000 people and is the world's oldest travel company, founded in 1841. The company has £1.7 billion of debt.

WHAT HAPPENS TO TOURISTS?

The British government has asked the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to launch a repatriation programme over the next two weeks, from Monday to Oct 6, to bring Thomas Cook customers back to Britain.

"Due to the significant scale of the situation, some disruption is inevitable, but the Civil Aviation Authority will endeavour to get people home as close as possible to their planned dates," it said.

A fleet of aircraft will be used to repatriate British citizens. In a small number of destinations, alternative commercial flights will be used.

About 50,000 tourists are stranded in Greece, mainly on islands, a Greek tourism ministry official told Reuters on Monday.

The CAA has launched a special website, thomascook.caa.co.uk, where affected customers can find details and information on repatriation flights.

For those customers not flying from Britain, alternative arrangements will have to be found. In Germany, a popular customer market for Thomas Cook, insurance companies will coordinate the response.

WHAT IS THE ADVICE TO PASSENGERS?

"Customers currently overseas should not travel to the airport until their flight back to the UK has been confirmed on the dedicated website," the CAA said.

"Thomas Cook customers in the UK yet to travel should not go to the airport, as all flights leaving the UK have been cancelled."

WHO WILL PAY FOR THE COST OF HOTELS?

The CAA said it was contacting hotels and other companies likely to be impacted by Thomas Cook's collapse to reassure them they will be paid.

The regulator said that if holidaymakers are being asked to settle bills, they should contact the CAA.

Thomas Cook package holiday customers are covered by ATOL - Air Travel Organiser's Licence - which protects accommodation and return flights. However, the CAA said some customers may be asked to relocate to other accommodation.

WHAT HAPPENS IF A HOLIDAY IS BOOKED FOR THE FUTURE?

The CAA says that if customers have not yet started their trips, most holidays and flights booked with Thomas Cook are now cancelled and customers should not go to the airport.

THE LIQUIDATION

Thomas Cook said it had entered compulsory liquidation and an order had been granted to appoint an official receiver to liquidate the company.

AlixPartners UK LLP or KPMG will be appointed as special manager for the different parts of the business.

THE INDUSTRY

The impact is already being felt further afield, with Australian travel group Webjet saying it was €27 million (S$40.8 million) out of pocket and British online travel group On The Beach saying it would suffer from helping its customers in resorts who had flown with Thomas Cook.

The collapse could provide a boost, however, to major rival TUI, whose shares surged more than 10 per cent in early Monday trading, and to Europe's overcrowded airline sector, which could benefit from the closure of Thomas Cook's airline.

WHY DID IT COLLAPSE?

Thomas Cook was brought low by a US$2.1 billion (S$2.9 billion) debt pile that prevented it from responding to more nimble online competition.

With debts built up around 10 years ago due to several ill-timed deals, it had to sell three million holidays a year just to cover its interest payments.

As it struggled to pitch itself to a new generation of tourists, the company was hit by the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, one of its top destinations, and the 2018 Europe-wide heatwave which deterred customers from going abroad.

Thomas Cook needed another £200 million on top of a £900 million package it had already agreed, to see it through the winter months when it receives less cash and must pay hotels for summer services.

The request for an additional £200 million torpedoed the rescue deal that had been months in the making.

Thomas Cook bosses met lenders and creditors in London on Sunday (Sept 22) to try to thrash out a last-ditch deal to keep the company afloat. They failed.

Under the original terms of the plan, top shareholder Fosun - whose Chinese parent owns all-inclusive holiday firm Club Med - would have given £450 million of money in return for at least 75 per cent of the tour operator business and 25 per cent of its airline.

Thomas Cook's lending banks and bondholders were to stump up a further £450 million and convert their existing debt to equity, giving them in total about 75 per cent of the airline and up to 25 per cent of the tour operator business.

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History Hit Story of England: Making of a Nation

Thomas Cook and the Invention of Mass Tourism in Victorian Britain

Harry Sherrin

03 mar 2022.

After its inception in the mid-19th century, the travel agency Thomas Cook pioneered the development of mass tourism, launching the world’s first travel guidebooks, package holidays and round-the-world tours.

Thomas Cook grew from humble beginnings, carrying temperance activists to meetings by train in the English Midlands, into a vast multinational company. In the 19th century, its tours catered to increasingly wealthy Victorians during the height of the British Empire , successfully championing a travel revolution.

But in 2019, Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy. It was the world’s oldest and longest-serving tour operator at the time, having existed for more than a century and a half and endured world wars, economic crises and the rise of the internet.

Here’s the story of Thomas Cook and the advent of global mass tourism.

Temperance trips

Thomas Cook (1808-1892), a devout Christian and advocate of the temperance movement, organised a one-day rail excursion for a temperance meeting in 1841. The trip, on 5 July, involved a train journey between Leicester and Loughborough, courtesy of an arrangement with the Midland Counties Railway Company.

Cook continued this practice over the following years, organising railway journeys for temperance activist groups around the Midlands of England. In 1845, he organised his first for-profit excursion, in the form of a trip to Liverpool for passengers from three locations – Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

For this tour, Cook crafted a passengers’ handbook, now widely considered a precursor to the popular travel guidebook that would be produced to accompany travel excursions for decades to follow.

Branching out to Europe

English tourist agent Thomas Cook and party in the ruins of Pompeii, Easter 1868. Cook is seated on the ground, just to right of center, in this carte-de-visite photograph.

Image Credit: Granger Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

By the 1850s, Cook had his sights set further afield than England. For the Paris Exposition of 1855 , for example, he organised guided trips from Leicester to Calais.

That same year, he also oversaw international ‘package’ tours, carrying parties from England to various cities in Europe, including Brussels, Strasbourg, Cologne and Paris . These excursions offered passengers everything needed to sustain them on their journeys, including transport, accommodation and meals.

By the 1860s, Cook’s sporadic temperance trips had grown into a profitable mass tourism operation – thought to be the first in global history. In response to his newfound success, Cook opened his first high-street store in London’s Fleet Street in 1865.

That same year, the London Underground opened as the first subterranean railway in the world. London was the most populous city on the planet at the time, and the enterprises of the British Empire saw wealth pouring into mainland Britain. With this came disposable income and, by extension, more Britons willing to spend large sums on international holidays.

For Cook, business was booming.

Going global

After tackling Europe, Thomas Cook went global. Now a father-son business comprising Thomas Cook and his son, John Mason Cook, the tour agency launched its first US tour in 1866. John Mason guided it personally.

A few years later, Thomas Cook escorted passengers on the company’s first trip to North Africa and the Middle East, stopping in Egypt and Palestine.

Tourism for Britons at the time was intimately tied to the endeavours of the British Empire. As British armies entered Egypt and Sudan in the late 19th century, so too did tourists, traders, teachers and missionaries, eager to capitalise on the newfound accessibility of far-flung nations and the relative safety offered by the presence of British forces there.

Thomas Cook and Son was even responsible for delivering military personnel and mail to British Egypt in the late 19th century.

1872 marked a huge moment in the history of Thomas Cook and indeed global tourism. That year, Thomas Cook escorted the first known round-the-world tour. The lengthy excursion, which lasted more than 200 days and covered nearly 30,000 miles, was targeted at wealthy Victorians – those with the time, funds and proclivity to see the world’s many cultures.

In that decade, Thomas Cook also helped invent the traveler’s cheque: the company offered a ‘Circular Note’ to its passengers which could be exchanged for currency around the world.

In the 1920s, Thomas Cook and Son launched the first-known tour through Africa. The excursion lasted some 5 months and took passengers from Cairo in Egypt down to the Cape of Good Hope.

Conquering air and sea

John Mason Cook took over primary leadership of the company in the 1870s, overseeing its continued expansion and the opening of various new offices around the world.

With this expansion came the launching of Thomas Cook’s company-owned steamers in the late 19th century. In 1886, a fleet of luxury steamers opened to passengers, offering cruises along the Nile.

A Thomas Cook flyer from 1922 advertising cruises down the Nile. This kind of travel has been immortalised in works such as ‘Death on the Nile’ by Agatha Christie.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Cook eventually took to the skies in the 1920s, overseeing its first guided tour involving air travel in 1927. The trip carried 6 passengers from New York to Chicago, and also included accommodation and tickets for a Chicago boxing fight.

Into the modern era

During World War Two , Thomas Cook was briefly enlisted to assist with the ‘enemy mail service’, essentially the covert delivery of post from Allied regions to occupied territories.

The company went on to change hands several times during the 20th century, yet it managed to stay afloat despite various buyouts, economic crises and the rise of online travel agents.

In 2019, Thomas Cook was handed a bill of some £200 million by the Royal Bank of Scotland and other financial institutions. Unable to source the funds, the company declared bankruptcy.

At the time, Thomas Cook was responsible for more than 150,000 holiday-goers abroad. When the company collapsed, new arrangements had to be made to return every stranded customer home. The UK Civil Aviation Authority, which assisted with the repatriation efforts, called it the largest-ever peacetime repatriation in British history.

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Thomas cook: a timeline of the world’s oldest tour operator.

July 6, 2020

As we say goodbye to the world’s oldest tour operator, here are the most important years in Thomas Cook ’s illustrious history.

1841: Rail revolution

Thomas Cook single-handedly industrialises railway tourism – chartering a train to take 500 passengers about 10 miles from Leicester to the neighbouring town of Loughborough on Monday 5 July.

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Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

1855: Cook goes international

1/21 Antalya, Turkey

British passengers with Thomas Cook wait in long queue at Antalya airport in Turkey

2/21 Mallorca, Spain

3/21 peterborough headquarters.

People carry bags and boxes outside the Peterborough headquarters. A total of 22,000 jobs – including 9,000 in UK – to be lost following administration

4/21 Mallorca

More than 150,000 British holidaymakers need to be brought home, with the government and CAA hiring dozens of charter planes to fly customers home free of charge

5/21 Manchester Airport

The group failed to reach a last-ditch rescue deal, triggering the UK’s biggest repatriation since World War II to bring back stranded passengers

6/21 Mallorca

Passengers talk to Civil Aviation Authority employees at Mallorca Airport after Thomas Cook declared bankruptcy

7/21 Mallorca, Spain

The 178-year-old operator had been desperately seeking £200 million from private investors to save it from collapse

8/21 London

Pedestrians walk past a closed branch of a Thomas Cook

9/21 Mallorca, Spain

10/21 mallorca, spain.

A British Government official talks to passengers

11/21 Peterborough headquarters

A woman carries a box through the carpark

12/21 Crete, Greece

People line up in front of a Thomas Cook counter at the Heraklion airport

13/21 Manchester Airport

A British Government official assists passengers

14/21 Mallorca, Spain

15/21 crete, greece, 16/21 mallorca, spain.

Passengers sit on the floor

17/21 Tunis, Tunisia

Tourists, flying with Thomas Cook, queue at the Enfidha International airport

18/21 Peterborough headquarters

A man sits outside

19/21 Split, Croatia

Passengers wait inside Split airport

20/21 Mallorca, Spain

Thomas Cook staff speak with British passengers

21/21 Mallorca, Spain

He offered a complete holiday “package” (comprising travel and accommodation, as well as meals) for the first time.

1865: A travel agent is born

Thomas Cook opens a travel agency in Fleet Street, central London. It coincides with the opening of the London Underground, the world’s first subterranean railway.

1874: Cheque it out

“Cook’s Circular Note,” the prototype of the traveller’s cheque, is launched – providing a safe and easy way to carry funds abroad.

1892: Next generation

1928: Up for sale

The last two Cooks, Thomas’s grandsons Frank and Ernest, retire. They sell the business to the first of many outside owners, the railway sleeping car firm Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits.

1948: Nationalisation

1972: Staying the course

Thomas Cook customer threatens to go off if she doesn’t get refund

1992: New owners

A German consortium, comprising Westdeutsche Landesbank and the LTU Group, acquire the Thomas Cook Group.

2019: It’s all over

The Thomas Cook Group, by now an Anglo-German firm, ceases trading at 2am on Monday, 23 September

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FROM ISSUE: 10.1 February/March 2020

The Holidaymaker: Who was Thomas Cook?

When British tour operator and airline Thomas Cook collapsed at the end of September, it signaled the end of an era in leisure travel, but the history of the brand with humble roots lives on.

By the time family-owned Thomas Cook & Son was sold to Wagons-Lits in 1928, the British travel firm was already acting as a tour operator, guidebook publisher, money and exchange outfit and travel agency. Its foray into air travel came much later, of course – over 150 years after the company’s paterfamilias, Thomas Cook, led his first rail excursion for supporters of the British temperance movement in 1841. Though that trip was modest in nature – from Leicester, in England’s East Midlands where Cook was born, to Loughborough – the Thomas Cook brand of the late 19th and early 20th centuries went on to shepherd the middle classes, aristocracy and even royalty to far-flung places such as India, Australia and America.

Its growth into a commercial giant was largely due to the efforts of Thomas Cook’s son, John Mason Cook, who joined the family firm in 1864. Though Thomas Cook had tried to turn a profit, his goals until then were primarily spiritual, says Piers Brendon, historian and author of Thomas Cook: 150 Years of Popular Tourism.

A devout Baptist, Cook saw travel as a recreational alternative to the alehouse, which he and his fellow temperance adherents believed to be at the root of society’s ills. “He thought travel was uplifting, educational and good for international relations; it was integral to his mission to improve the lot of humanity,” explains Brendon.

However, Cook didn’t grow up traveling: He grew up poor, and at the age of 10 left school to work as a gardener’s helper. In his mid-teens, he apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and taught Sunday school, where he rose through the ranks to become superintendent. Just before his twentieth birthday, he abandoned cabinetry to pursue his religious calling as an itinerant missionary in the South Midlands, distributing religious literature, preaching and setting up Sunday schools. It was his first experience with travel, says Brendon. Cook also tried his hand at printing and journalism; he was a bookseller and opened a temperance hotel in Leicester.

A devout Baptist, Cook saw travel as a recreational alternative to the alehouse.

Cook understood that his role in brokering travel was not simply to procure cheap tickets for his patrons. For his early railway expeditions, which took people all over England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, he mapped out routes, provided handbooks and chaperoned women traveling alone. He personally accompanied many of his guests on these trips, where his dictatorial style earned him the nickname “the General.”

When Cook expanded his excursions to the European continent, he began to arrange meals and accommodation for his travelers – a kind of predecessor to the all-inclusive package the 21st-century Thomas Cook was known for. This style of trip came to be known as a “Cook’s tour.” “So popular was the excursion movement that many non-temperance people joined them. Indeed, some of them resented his beating the teetotal drum,” Brendon explains.

Though Brendon cannot be sure what Cook would have made of the company’s evolution, he does say that Cook would have been disappointed to hear that corporate greed or managerial incompetence may have had a hand in bringing the enterprise to its end.

“The Holidaymaker” was originally published in the 10.1 February/March issue of APEX Experience magazine.

Savvy Travel Advice

Thomas Cook History: The Tale of the Father of Modern Tourism

Last updated: March 21, 2021 - Written by Jessica Norah 42 Comments

Do you know who Thomas Cook was and what contribution he made to the history of travel? Perhaps you have heard the name, seen it on the travel agencies that still carry his name, or maybe you’ve even taken a Thomas Cook tour. But my guess is that, like me, you don’t know too much about the man or how he fits into the history of travel.

Thomas Cook was a passionate man who was born into a world where most working class people worked long 6-day weeks and never traveled more than 20 miles from their home towns. Thomas would begin work at age 10, laboring in a vegetable garden for 1 penny per day; but with a lot of determination and hard work, this working class man would eventually build one of the largest travel companies in the world.

This post is dedicated to the memory of Thomas Cook and his role in history and will give you a good overview of Thomas the man, Thomas the travel pioneer, and a glimpse of what it was like to travel in the Victorian age.

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook & Son travel history

Table of Contents:

Who was Thomas Cook?

Thomas Cook was born in 1808 in the small town of Melbourne, England but would be best known for his time living in Leicester. He would finish his schooling at age 10 to begin working, often for only a penny a day, to help support his family.

Throughout his life, Thomas Cook would work as a Baptist preacher, carpenter, furniture maker, printer, publisher, political advocate, and travel organizer. As a Baptist preacher, he would walk thousands of miles and earned so little that he often worked in the dark to conserve candles and oil.

After seeing the effects of drunkenness at an early age, Cook believed that alcohol abuse was one of the major roots of the many social problems in the Victoria era and would spend much of his time and talents supporting the Temperance movement in England for the rest of his life. In fact, Cook’s beginnings as a travel organizer would come about because of his temperance beliefs.

In 1841, he would arrange for a special train to take over 500 people from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a temperance meeting. For 1 shilling, passengers got round trip train travel, band entertainment, afternoon tea, and food. Not a bad deal!

T he Birth of Thomas Cook & Son

Then in 1845, he would organize his first railway excursion for profit, and the following year he would begin offering trips outside England to Scotland, a country that captivated Cook and would remain one of his favorite destinations. For many of his early passengers, this was their first time aboard a train and the furthest distance they’d ever traveled from their home.

His trips kept getting bigger and in 1851, Thomas got the chance to organize railway travel and travel accommodations for people from the provinces to travel to London to attend the Great Exhibition orchestrated by Prince Albert. Thomas would transport over 150,000 people to London during the 6 months of the exhibition. This was one of the largest events in England and one of the largest movements of people within Britain!

Up until this point in time, most people in the provinces would be unlikely to travel to a town 20 miles away, let alone to the city of London. It must have been quite a shock for many people, who likely had never attended an event bigger than a county agricultural fair, to witness the Great Exhibition, where many of the greatest industrial inventions of the time were on display, in the bustling capital city of London.

His early tours would be marketed towards the working class, but later his company would go on to escort more middle class passengers and even organize travel for royalty, the military, and other important figures given his increasing reputation for being able to efficiently organize travel.

Interestingly, a large percentage of Cook’s travelers would be single or unescorted women who likely would not have been able to travel on their own (remember these are the days of Gone with the Wind ), but being part of an escorted tour provided them with both protection and independence.

Cook would rapidly expand operations, escorting tours throughout Europe, North America, and even led the first commercial tour around the world. But perhaps no destination was more sacred to Thomas than his tours to Egypt and the Middle East. Here Thomas could witness firsthand the Biblical lands he had read and preached about all his life, and spending time in the Holy Land was truly a realization of many of his dreams as a young man.

A Man with Many Personal Obstacles and Struggles

Although Thomas Cook & Son would thrive and go on to become one of the largest travel agencies in the world, things did not work out as well for Cook in his personal life. Thomas’ father died when he was very young as did his stepfather, and young Thomas was left to be raised by his widowed mother.

As an adult, he would suffer the tragic sudden death of his only daughter Annie—a young woman on the cusp of marriage—who shared a close relationship with her parents. Thomas’ wife would suffer a long period of ill health following her daughter’s death, eventually dying and leaving Thomas alone with his own failing health that left him almost blind.

In his later years, he had a very strained relationship with his only son and business partner John Mason Cook. Thomas felt that he was being pushed aside in his own company and eventually John Mason Cook would take over all operations from his father. The father and son never truly reconciled and spent very little time together towards the end of his life.

While Thomas’ poor health and eyesight made it increasingly difficult, he continued to be active in travel and temperance activities until near the end of his life. His son would continue to expand the travel business.

What was it like to Travel During the Victorian Era?

Thomas lived during the reign of Queen Victoria—the Victorian era—and while romantic imaginings of spending time aboard the famous Oriental Express, sailing on luxury White Star Line steamships, and staying in grand palatial hotels may have been partially true of the wealthiest of travelers, these are far from the accommodations you could expect as a working class or middle class traveler.

Before widespread railway transport, the stagecoach reigned as the quickest way to get around and only the wealthy could afford such conveniences. So poorer people often walked, hitched rides on the back of wagons and carts, or, if lucky, rode a horse or donkey. In the early days of railway travel, third class train accommodations were open wagons, some without seats, where passengers would have to worry about the wind, sun, dust, locomotive smoke, and glowing hot embers.

During Cook’s travels—particularly his early trips—you would need to worry about germs and disease as very little was understood about germs at the time and the lack of widespread refrigeration and hot water heightened the chances of disease. Restaurants, flush toilets, and even running water were not staples in Great Britain, let alone the rest of the world. Communication was slow and done primarily by postal mail, sometimes taking weeks to confirm reservations or transmit a message back home.

However, things were not all bad. During Thomas’s life so much would change that would make travel faster, cheaper, and more comfortable than ever before. Improvements in the postal service, use of the steam engine, opening of the Suez canal, and the great expansion of the railways would make it possible for Thomas Cook to accomplish things that would not have been possible a generation before him.

Thomas Cook’s tours, with their discounted organized group rates, made it possible for a lot of working and middle class people to travel for the first time. Cook believed that travel could help educate and enlighten people who, like him, often did not have a proper school education, eliminate prejudices and bigotry, and be a healthy leisure alternative to visiting pubs, gambling halls, and whorehouses.

However, these new travel opportunities for the lower classes was not something that was widely appreciated by many of those in the upper classes of society. Until the nineteenth century, popular tourist destinations were almost exclusively the playground of the wealthy who could afford the time away and expensive cost of travel. The upper classes did not want to mix with the lower classes when traveling.

As Thomas Cook and others began to offer affordable excursion tours to popular destinations such as English country homes (e.g., Chatsworth House), the Rhine River valley, the French Riviera, Egyptian pyramids, and the Swiss Alps, wealthy travelers complained about what they saw as a bunch of uncouth, uneducated common people invading their exclusive travel paradises.

They criticized Thomas Cook and the excursion travelers, and this criticism likely wounded Thomas, who although he strongly believed in the right for all people to be able to travel, he also strived to be accepted by the upper echelons of society. Despite his success, he never was accepted by the upper classes as he was not of gentle birth, but was a working man and a Baptist in a country still largely controlled by wealthy Anglicans.

However, despite all the criticism, the demand for discounted organized travel would only continue to increase. The number of travelers from London who crossed the Channel to continental Europe rose from 165,000 in 1850 to 951,000 by 1899. Travel agencies and organized travel were here to stay.

Why Thomas Cook was a Travel Pioneer

Thomas Cook was a travel pioneer who built one of the largest travel businesses in the world, a business that started very humbly as a way to transport travelers to nearby temperance meetings. Thomas was able to “organize travel as it was never organized before” and with the help of the railways and the steam engine, he was able to do it on a scale that would have never before been possible.

Although not the first to come up with most of the ideas, Thomas would make things like travel vouchers, traveler’s cheques, and printed guidebooks common and widespread. Cook would use his talents as a printer to print travel advertisements, bulletins, magazines, guidebooks, and train timetables. In fact, Thomas Cook Continental Timetables would be published from 1873 to 2013 (last edition was published in August 2013) and were for many decades considered the bible for European train travelers.

His religious fervor would make him seek out exotic locations such as the Middle East and his determination would lead to Thomas Cook & Son opening offices around the world. Perhaps his greatest legacy is that he helped make it possible for a new group of people to engage in leisure travel. Cook understood well the drudgery of hard work and trying to support oneself on a meager income, and his tours provided working and lower middle class people the opportunity to explore a world they could have only have read about otherwise.

The Thomas Cook & Son name continued to exist as a travel company, offering travel tours until 2019. The company traded for 178 years. But it had not been a family-run business by the Cook family since the 1920’s when Thomas Cook’s grandsons, Frank and Ernest, sold the company to the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, operators of most of Europe’s luxury sleeping cars, including the Orient Express .

In the 1940’s it would become state-owned by the British Transport Holding Company. It would continue to change hands over the years. In 2001, it would become owned solely by C&N Touristic AG, one of Germany’s largest travel groups, who renamed the company, Thomas Cook AG.

Thomas Cook became one of the world’s largest travel agencies and the oldest in the UK. Its famous slogan developed by advertising expert Michael Hennessy: “Don’t just book it….Thomas Cook it” became well-known around the world.

The Bankruptcy and Closure of the Thomas Cook Travel Agency in 2019

Sadly, the travel agency and airline that carried the Thomas Cook named declared bankruptcy in September 2019, leaving about 150,000 British travelers “stranded” all over the world (as well as a number of other nationalities). Perhaps the most devastating effect has been the immediate loss of thousands of jobs for people in the UK and abroad.

The travel agency, however, was properly insured and protected and most of those who booked a trip can apply for a refund, and those left “stranded” on trips were repatriated by the UK. It was the largest repatriation effort since World War 2.

In October 2019, it was announced that all the Thomas Cook travel agency offices in UK will be taken over by Hays Travel and rebranded under their name. Most of the reopened offices are being staffed by former Thomas Cook employees. Hays Travel is now the largest independent travel agency in the UK, and you can read more about them here .

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on all sectors of the global travel industry and Hays Travel was forced to close its travel offices in the UK for a large part of the year. Many of the former UK Thomas Cook offices have now been permanently shuttered and many of the employees who had been rehired were sadly made redundant. You can read more about that here .

Although the future of the Thomas Cook name in travel may be uncertain, I would be very surprised if the name does not continue to be associated in some way with a travel agency.

In fact, although all the UK based companies have stopped trading, some Thomas Cook owned resorted, like Cook’s Club are still operating. Some of its subsidiaries in some other countries are still trading as normal but are also in danger of closure.

What I Learned from Reading about Thomas Cook

Thomas Cook was a quite extraordinary self-made man. He had so many occupations and business ventures and so many setback and failures, even declaring bankruptcy at one point, but he was so persistent and never gave up. He was a passionate man who fought for his Baptist faith, beliefs in equality for all people, and for temperance.

In addition to being impressed by the determination and innovativeness of Thomas Cook himself, I was also quite intrigued in the ways that travel has changed and the ways it has not. We have come a long way since Thomas Cook escorted his first tour as we can travel so much lighter, faster, and more conveniently than would have seemed possible to Victorian age travelers who would accept unheated train cars, month-long ocean crossings, and hotels without hot water.

Cook, a teetotaler until his death, would likely be shocked by the tourism industry’s promotion of sun, sea and sex and the partying and drinking associated with many travel destinations. Indeed, many of these locations are the most popular destinations for British travelers on package holidays.

However, some things have not changed very much. Criticisms of organized travel remain with the notion that independent travel is better and people love to make the subjective “traveler” versus “tourist” distinction. There are also still locations that remain primarily the playgrounds of the wealthy although never like during the Victorian age. Travel remains class segregated as those who can afford to do so can fly in first class seats, dine in the finest restaurants aboard ships, and sleep in the best cabins with little need to spend much time with other class passengers.

One of the things that I found perhaps the most interesting was the destinations promoted by Thomas Cook still remain, with few exceptions, major tourist destinations today. The country house of Chatsworth House is one of the most notable country houses in England today and people are still flocking to the Scottish highlands, Paris, Rhine River Valley, Swiss Alps, Egypt, the ancient city of Petra, Australia, and most of the other destinations promoted by Thomas Cook in the 1800’s.

While things have changed in some ways beyond recognition, many of the world’s wonders and great destinations continue to awe visitors as they must have awed those first pioneer tourists led by Thomas Cook.

Want to Learn More about Thomas Cook and Victorian Age Travel?

Resources about Thomas Cook (I used these in writing this article) :

-Hamilton, Jill. (2005). Thomas Cook: The Holiday Maker . The History Press.

-Piers Brendon. (1991). Thomas Cook – 150 Years of Popular Tourism . Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd.

-Withey, Lynne. (1997). Grand Tours and Cook’s Tours – A History of Leisure Travel, 1750 to 1915 . William Morrow & Co. [This book focuses on a broader view of the history of travel including a lot of attention to Thomas Cook tours and their impact on tourism]

-A great Wikipedia link to some of Thomas Cook’s Traveler Handbooks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook%27s_Travellers_Handbooks

Another book related to Thomas Cook on my to-read list:

-Swinglehurst, Edmund. (1974). The Romantic Journey – The Story of Thomas Cook and Victorian Travel . Pica Editions.

So what do you think about Thomas Cook and the Victorian Age of Travel? If you are interested in another article on travel during the Victorian age, check out our post on t wo American women who race around the world in less than 80 days .

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Baskin Post author

February 28, 2024 at 3:26 am

Wow, so fascinating to read about the history of Thomas Cook, the visionary behind modern tourism. I definitely learned a lot from this about how His legacy continues to shape travel and hospitality industries, very educational post!

Jessica & Laurence Norah Post author

February 28, 2024 at 10:20 am

Thanks for taking the time to comment and glad to hear you enjoyed our article on Thomas Cook. And yes his contributions to the travel industry can definitely still be seend today!

Best, Jessica

Chandra Gurung Post author

May 9, 2023 at 4:15 am

Very interesting post, thanks for the great travel History !!

May 13, 2023 at 8:06 am

Hi Chandra,

Glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook, thanks for taking the time to comment!

Karim Post author

October 29, 2022 at 3:01 pm

Thanks for your blog post on Thomas Cook, very helpful, nice to read.

October 31, 2022 at 10:04 am

Thanks for taking the time to comment, glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook and a bit of the history of the man and his company 😉

Jeanne Gisi Post author

May 24, 2022 at 1:06 pm

While cleaning out some boxes filled with mementos of my travels over the years, I came upon an Itinerary prepared by Thos. Cook & Son for a 6 week European trip in 1965 for my parents & I (I was 13)! It was so fascinating to see the level of detail for each stop, which included England, France, Italy, Spain & Germany; and the beautiful cover & fancy paper used to produce the itinerary. I went looking on the internet to see if they were still in existence & found your blog, which I found so informative about the founder & the many iterations the company had gone through. Probably the most amazing detail in this itinerary was discovering that for hotels in 4 different cities, train rides, rental car & private transport for the entire trip was shown at $328 per person! Astounding! Appreciated reading your historical information about this venerable company.

May 25, 2022 at 5:10 am

So glad you enjoyed our article on the history of Thomas Cook.

Oh, wow, that must be wonderful finding old treasures from your family travels. I love things like that. And yes a 6 week trip for $328 per person (about $3,000 per person in today’s money) would still be a good value today for all that was included for a 6-week trip. And it would have taken longer to put together an itinerary then as the travel agent would have needed to call or mail for inquiries and reservations rather than clicking buttons on a computer.

Yes, Thomas Cook has gone through a lot in recent years. Hays Travel purchased most of the Thomas Cook offices/stores and hired back a lot of the staff in 2019. But then of course the COVID-19 pandemic came soon after, and many of the stores have since re-closed and a number of people had to be let go. For example, our local travel store (in Bath, England) went from a Thomas Cook to a Hays Travel to being empty again in about a year’s time. It will be interesting to see what will happen with traditional travel agencies like this as international travel goes back to 2019 levels and if they will continue to flourish in the face of online competitors.

Ruth Deeks Post author

March 21, 2021 at 8:39 am

Very interesting. My parents who were Baptist missionaries in India had told me that Thomas Cook was a Baptist and gave a special rate to missionaries travelling by boat to and from India, the journey taking 5 weeks approx. I am talking about the 1930s to 1950s. What a shame the The Thomas Cook co. was sold out of the family and went bankrupt.

March 21, 2021 at 9:05 am

Glad you enjoyed our article on Thomas Cook and the history of his travel business. He is an interesting man combining his religion with travel.

Yes, it is sad that the Thomas Cook business went bankrupt. Sadly, the UK travel company which took over most of the Thomas Cook offices in the UK, Hays Travel, has now had to close many of these offices in 2020 due to the coronavirus. This has also sadly left many of the former Thomas Cook employees, many of which were then re-hired by Hays Travel, without a job again. It’s been a very tough couple of years for UK travel agents. Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year for them.

Uwingabire Faustine Post author

November 28, 2020 at 1:03 pm

Hello I was inspired by the theory of Thomas Cook, but wanted to know above all that why was he important in tourism industry?

November 29, 2020 at 7:05 am

Glad you enjoyed our post on Thomas Cook and learning about his life. Hopefully you found your answer about why Thomas Cook was important in the tourism industry from the article. But if not, I’d go back and read the “Why Thomas Cook was a Travel Pioneer” section as that covers a good summary of his achievements related to travel and his importance in the tourism industry.

If you have any further questions, please let me know!

Seba Campos Post author

July 30, 2020 at 6:49 pm

Hi! I am a tourism student from Argentina, I really liked your article and it was extremely revealing for me. I’m working on the Thomas Cook story.

Do you have any information about his family? Why did they decide to sell the company? Why did your son remove him from the company? Thank you so much!

August 1, 2020 at 5:28 am

Glad that you are finding my article helpful in writing your paper on Thomas Cook.

If you are looking for additional information, I’d recommend checking out one of the books about Thomas Cook such as this one by Jill Hamilton published in 2005. The books will give you more details and context than you’ll find online. You should be able to buy it online through Amazon or ebay.

The Thomas Cook company website used to have some good historical information but that information has all been removed since Thomas Cook closed in the UK.

Hope that helps, Jessica

Colin Post author

October 6, 2019 at 5:41 am

Hi Jessica, I was just searching about Thomas Cook after the recent bankruptcy as I was one of the people affected. Luckily for us, we were not on the tour and it was booked several months away, so it seems all will be well in terms of getting our money back. We also have plenty of time to rebook our holiday, so we are luckier than most.

What a great post and what a detailed history of Thomas Cook and his travel company. I have used Thomas Cook to book holidays for years and never knew anything about Thomas Cook, the man or his background. This was a very interesting read!

October 6, 2019 at 6:09 am

Sorry to hear that you were one of the people affected by the Thomas Cook bankruptcy and closure. But I am happy to hear that it sounds like you will receive a full refund for your booked trip and will have plenty of time to rebook your holiday.

So glad you enjoyed our post. Yes, the history of Thomas Cook as a person is very interesting and he was definitely a pioneer in the field of tourism. I am sure the Cook name will continue to be associated with a travel company in one way or another in the future since it is so well recognized worldwide.

Happy travels, Jessica

Eran Post author

December 26, 2018 at 10:21 pm

Hi, Great post! Towards the end of it you mention that a lot of things haven’t changed in travel. However, I think in recent years, with the rise of low-cost flights, now tourism is more reachable to all segments than ever before…

December 27, 2018 at 3:37 am

Hi Eran, Yes, it is amazing how much hasn’t changed and in other ways how much things have changed since the time of Thomas Cook!

I do think that low cost travel has enabled more people to travel, but in more recent times it is probably more due to better economic conditions in countries than things like budget airlines, as we are seeing huge increases in the number of travelers from places like India, China, and Latin America. Travel for leisure is commonplace in many countries, but still remains something for those with money as much of the world’s population can not often afford to travel internationally for leisure. According to Hans Rosling, it is estimated that only the richest 1 billion people in the world live where they can easily afford airplane tickets, and 2 billion people spend less than $2 a day.

Interesting to look at travel from a global perspective as it can be easy for Western people to take it for granted.

Alok kumar mandal Post author

August 17, 2018 at 8:15 am

very interesting and useful facts about Mr. Cook…

August 17, 2018 at 11:32 am

Hi Alok, Yes, Thomas Cook was an interesting man and we the see the effects of his legacy on modern travel all over the place, especially since we are now living in the UK. Best, Jessica

Bryant Kerr Post author

November 4, 2017 at 10:08 pm

I have a old traveling trunk that have the names Colonel Thomas Cook and Sons the other name is Lieutenant Colonel Rodger Young military number 03443 79 New Delhi does anyone know anything about this trunk

November 7, 2017 at 8:29 am

Hi Bryant, I don’t know anything about the trunk, but there is a fairly well-known American from Ohio that was in the military named Rodger Wilton Young although not sure if he was ever in New Delhi. There was also a Thomas Cook who served at the Addiscombe Military Seminary in 1837. But the Thomas Cook & Sons are probably just the ones that arranged the travel so you’ll probably have better luck tracking down Young. Best of luck!! ~ Jessica

Taranath Bohara Post author

January 31, 2017 at 5:09 am

I love this guy Thomas Cook, who helped bring affordable tourism to the world. Many people are involved and have followed his principles. He was a great who taught the lesson of tour and travel. Great blog post!

January 31, 2017 at 6:20 am

Hi Taranath, Thanks for taking the time to comment. Yes, I really love the story of Thomas Cook and I don’t think a lot of people know the influence he had on the modern tourism industry but at least his name is still carried on in the company he founded. Glad you enjoyed our article! Best, Jessica

LOUIS GEEN Post author

January 31, 2017 at 9:11 am

Could this be the same man? I am a Freemason and a member of the Port Natal Masonic Lodge in Durban, South Africa. The Lodge is almost 160 years old, having been consecrated on 12th August 1858. According to our records Thomas Cook was Master of the Lodge during the Masonic year 1883 – 1884. The Lodge is in possession of a beautiful oil painting of Thomas Cook that was donated by him to the Lodge. Until I discovered Thomas Cook’s name in the Port Natal Lodge’s records, I was not aware that the Father of Modern Tourism resided in South Africa. Could our Thomas Cook be the same man that turned tourism into the industry it has become?

January 31, 2017 at 10:22 am

Hi Louis, How interesting and thanks for commenting again on this post! It is possible of course as Thomas Cook lived from 1808-1892, but I don’t think that Thomas Cook was a freemason and I don’t remember reading about him spending time in South Africa. Thomas Cook is a fairly common name. However, I am no expert, and to find out for sure, I’d contact the Thomas Cook Group and they should be able to easily verify if the painting is of the same Thomas Cook of the travel agency. Let me know if you have any difficulty contacting them and I’d love to hear what you find out even if it turns out to be another Thomas Cook! Best Jessica

Tim Post author

June 7, 2016 at 7:22 am

Thanks for all this information on Thomas Cook! I am looking to for copy of one of the recommended books on Amazon!

travelcats Post author

June 13, 2016 at 7:30 am

Hi Tim, You are very welcome for the information on Thomas Cook. Amazing story and an important person in modern travel history and the current state of tourism. Good luck finding the book! ~ Jessica

Kerstin Post author

May 24, 2016 at 6:43 am

Meanwhile, Diccon Bewes has written a book on Cook’s Grand Tour of Switzerland, which I highly recommend to anybody interested in Victorian era travel: Slow Train to Switzerland , ISBN 9781857886092.

May 24, 2016 at 7:27 am

Hi Kerstin, Thanks for that book recommendation. I have not read it but it does have good reviews and I think it would be great for those readers interested in Thomas Cook tours to Switzerland or early mass tourism to the Alps! Best, Jessica

Louis Geen Post author

November 12, 2014 at 1:26 am

Thomas Cook was certainly an interesting character. Another interesting fact about this amazing man is that he was a Freemason and that he was Master of the Port Natal Lodge in Durban, South Africa, from 1883/1884. The Lodge now 156 years old, still exists and has in its possession a beautiful oil painting of Thomas Cook in its original gilded frame, which he donated to the Lodge.

November 15, 2014 at 9:28 am

Hi Louis, I did not know this. I don’t recall any reference to the freemasons or even South Africa during my readings and research on Thomas Cook. Do you have a reference for this for those interested in reading more about this? I couldn’t find any info about the lodge online.

Nic Post author

November 7, 2013 at 9:03 am

The quotes from Thomas Cook are great.

November 7, 2013 at 10:14 am

Agreed:) I really like the one in the green box.

Meghan Post author

November 6, 2013 at 6:24 pm

This is so interesting! I’m always so fascinated by stories about travel in the past. I recently learned that it wasn’t until the last few centuries that people began traveling for pleasure. I’ve even read that in some parts of the world, people think it is a little strange for a person to travel just because, and not for some business or personal errand. But all this information I never knew. I’ve never even heard of Thomas Cook until now. Thanks for sharing!

November 7, 2013 at 10:12 am

I know, it is so interesting to read about travels in prior centuries. That’s interesting about how some people see travel as strange today but I imagine in places where people have very little money, leisure travel is not much of a possibility.

bevchen Post author

November 5, 2013 at 11:51 pm

I knew only some of this. It’s very interesting!

November 6, 2013 at 7:20 am

Yes, it is a fascinating history.

Meredith Post author

November 5, 2013 at 9:52 pm

Wow, I had no idea! I’d heard the name but didn’t fully realize the history behind it. I feel like I owe him a big thank you! Even now there are some places in the world that would’ve been difficult for me to see without a tour group. Fascinating!

November 6, 2013 at 7:19 am

Yes, there are definitely several places in the world that make more sense with organized travel or travel guides than on your own. Thomas Cook’s company actually also helped people book unecorted independent travel and just made all the travel arrangements, allowing people to do it on their own. BTW, did you see how he was also captivated by Scotland (made me think of you).

Kate Post author

November 5, 2013 at 5:19 pm

Not only am I amazed I didn’t know any of this, but I am fascinated as to how much history there really is behind Thomas Cook!

November 5, 2013 at 7:21 pm

Yes, it really is an interesting history. The British, like Thomas Cook, were really the pioneers that started the modern tourism industry. It didn’t hurt that the British Empire stretched across the world:)

How Could Travel Giant Thomas Cook Fail?

Its package tour business model was successful for 178 years, but as consumer demand changed and moved online, the company did not.

By Shannon Sims

After 178 years of operation, the British tour operator Thomas Cook , one of the world’s oldest travel brands, with 19 million annual customers, closed shop on Monday. The company announced that it would be liquidating its assets and filed for bankruptcy, despite attempts to rescue the brand.

At the moment of its collapse, Thomas Cook had a debt of 1.7 billion pounds, about $2.1 billion, an amount the chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, had called “insurmountable.” It had been in negotiations to obtain $250 million in emergency financing when it declared bankruptcy.

About 600,000 travelers around the world were affected, 150,000 of them from the United Kingdom and about twice as many from Germany, said the airline industry analyst Bob Mann, and more than 20,000 employees worldwide found themselves without a job.

What happened? At a time when more people than ever are traveling, how could an established brand like Thomas Cook implode? And what now?

What was Thomas Cook?

The Thomas Cook Group was a British travel company famous for offering a distinct convenience to travelers: the ability to have all the pieces of their vacations linked, from flight to hotel room to local transport to tours, and even meals. The brand offered one-stop shopping for those who needed a getaway: Book a Thomas Cook vacation, and the only thing you’d need to do was pack a bag and go. The company even ran its own hotels and in recent years, operated its own airline. Its slogan pointed to the all-inclusive aspect of its business model: “Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it.”

[ The sudden collapse of Thomas Cook snarled travel plans, sowed confusion at airports and left hundreds of thousands stranded .]

That concept worked for generations of travelers, and the brand built a solid reputation. Zane Kerby, president and chief executive of the American Society of Travel Advisors , an association representing travel agencies, said that Thomas Cook’s reputation among both travel advisers and their clients was very good: “a quality brand.”

As recently as this summer, Thomas Cook Airlines was flying passengers to at least 82 destinations around the world, in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. Although the United States was not the company’s primary market, it still had a significant presence in some markets: over the past year, the company operated nearly 1,000 flights with 257,000 passengers out of Orlando International Airport, according to Carolyn Fennell, the airport’s senior director of public affairs.

Problem #1: The internet

The travel bookings business has increasingly moved online, but Cook’s business largely did not, though it announced an alliance with Expedia in 2017. It relied heavily on physical stores and telephone assistance. Globally, the brand operated more than 600 physical stores — called “high street” stores in the United Kingdom for their location on a town’s main commercial street.

“They were never very good at digital,” said Rafat Ali, the chief executive of Skift , a New York-based media company that provides research and marketing services for the travel industry, “that’s fair to say.”

Problem #2: Declining interest in package tours

“The package holiday market has gotten squeezed because it is so much easier for consumers to pick the elements they want for a holiday, and for them to be able to pick them at a good price,” said Tim Davis, the managing director of Pace Dimensions , a consulting firm that advises travel businesses on how to adapt to the digital world. He pointed out that over the past decade, Expedia and Booking Holdings have come to dominate the market with their search capabilities. “Instead of moving in that direction, Thomas Cook moved toward the direction of being a tour operator. Although they had more control over it — by owning the hotels and the airline — the market has continued to get squeezed.”

Mr. Davis put it bluntly: “It is a market that is going to die, it is just a matter of time.”

Scott Keyes, founder of the air travel website Scott’s Cheap Flights , said the desire of millennials for more individualized journeys also played a role.

People can now do their own research, “find your own adventures,” Mr. Keyes said. “There’s new competition in tours and activities, whether it’s big players like Airbnb or smaller players, the market has gotten more difficult for tour operators because of this shifting taste. It’s not as necessary to book packages.”

The package business is also seasonal, said Mr. Ali, of Skift. “The problem is that packages have a very defined season. So if one season goes bad — maybe because the summer is too hot, or because a key market, like Egypt, is experiencing trouble — it affects the cash flow of a company like Thomas Cook very badly.”

Problem #3: Operating an airline is expensive

In the early 2000s, Thomas Cook began moving into the airline business. The company slowly absorbed Condor , a Frankfurt-based airline that was formerly a subsidiary of Lufthansa. In 2003, the company began operating its own airline, Thomas Cook Airlines, a United Kingdom-based operation with 34 planes in the fleet traveling to 82 destinations.

Many experts pointed to that decision as a primary source of its troubles.

“It’s very hard to operate a travel agency, and it is very hard to operate an airline,” said Mr. Kerby of the Travel Advisors association. “And the lessons you learn operating a successful agency do not always transfer to operating an airline. Both are independent, complicated businesses in their own ways.”

The aviation consultant John Strickland noted that carriers like Thomas Cook don’t have the flexibility of a stand-alone airline. “You aren’t offering the same kind of schedule options,” he said. The sunk costs of running an airline, combined with the operating costs — the crew, maintenance, and more — make any airline vulnerable to declines in demand. But Mr. Strickland said that Thomas Cook’s business model made it even more troublesome. “The nature of the market is that they are seeing big peaks in the summer and troughs in the winter,” he said. If you own your own planes and don’t have passengers during quieter months, “that becomes a big challenge.”

Thomas Cook’s chief competition was the German-based tour company TUI Group , which also has an airline. When the internet threatened to eat into the business of conventional tour operators, TUI executives started acquiring and operating cruise ships and hotels in an attempt to differentiate their agency from the competition. Now, in addition to a fleet of 150 airplanes flown by five company-owned airlines, TUI operates 17 ocean liners and 380 hotels mainly in Southern Europe and Southeast Asia.

“We’re getting 70 percent of our earnings from our cruise ships and hotels. Tour operations and airlines make up only 30 percent,” said Kuzy Alexander Esener, the head of media relations for TUI.

The loss of Thomas Cook is an opportunity for TUI, Mr. Esener said. Its TUI Fly airline has been contacted by the British authorities searching for jetliners to charter to bring Thomas Cook’s stranded passengers back home.

Problem #4: Brexit

In May, Thomas Cook’s chief executive, Mr. Fankhauser, warned that “the Brexit process has led many U.K. customers to delay their holiday plans for this summer.”

Mr. Kerby also blamed the uncertainty around Brexit, at least in part. He pointed to the particular difficulty of operating an airline in Europe, a market that is awash in low-cost carriers like Ryanair and easyJet, and where purchases need to be made in dollars. “A lot of your bills are in dollars; you have to buy oil in dollars,” he said. “So when there are shocks to the system, like the U.K. with Brexit and the pound losing so much value, all of a sudden that makes the loans you have very difficult to service.”

“Travel agencies are doing well around the world. Airlines are doing well around the world. But combining those together with an uncertain market and a falling currency, for a company that is saddled with that much debt, you get a perfect storm.”

Problem #5: Those 600,000 travelers

Thomas Cook customers who have flights booked through October 6 will be flown home, using a cobbled together fleet of airplanes, most of them from charter companies, said Mr. Mann, the airline analyst. Those with tickets on Condor, a German carrier that is a subsidiary of Thomas Cook, will be able to fly home on that airline, which continues to operate.

There are at least a dozen charter airlines around the world that together have more than 60 planes that could be put to use, he said. Many will have available planes because of the dip in airline traffic that comes in the post-summer travel season, he said.

Atlas Air of Purchase, N.Y., a cargo company that owns a 747 passenger plane, dispatched its 400-plus seat jumbo jet to Manchester, England, to help with the repatriation. Mr. Mann expected charter companies that fly passengers to the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which ended in August, to be enlisted.

He also expected airlines like Malaysia Airlines, with underused Airbus A380 wide-body planes, to be enlisted.

“The logistics of the British piece are probably going to be 750 flights, assuming they can do them efficiently and get people on them,” Mr. Mann said. “It’s kind of Dunkirk as far as the United Kingdom goes,” referring to the naval evacuation of British troops from France during World War II.

A spokeswoman for British Airways said the airline is working with the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority to provide seats for customers returning to the United Kingdom on existing flights.

In Germany, Lufthansa Group said it is honoring tickets booked through Thomas Cook back to Germany on its Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines or SWISS carriers.

One group of planes that won’t be ferrying passengers: the Thomas Cook fleet, which Mr. Mann watched being flown to its Manchester base on radar Sunday night.

Patrick Scott contributed reporting from Saigon and Christine Negroni contributed reporting from Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

An earlier version of this article misstated the number of travelers who were stranded by the Thomas Cook failure. It is at least 150,000, not the total 600,000 affected by the company's collapse.

How we handle corrections

The cause of Thomas Cook's demise - and why we could all be affected

Sky's Ian King examines the problems that engulfed the business and says the ramifications will be felt by all holidaymakers.

Business presenter @iankingsky

Monday 23 September 2019 13:23, UK

As the biggest repatriation in peacetime history gets under way, so too will the blame game, with questions being asked as to why Thomas Cook was allowed to go under.

After all, this was a business for which a £900m recapitalisation had been painstakingly agreed - in outline - weeks ago between the company's lending banks and bondholders and by Fosun International, Thomas Cook's biggest shareholder.

Sign-off was still required from other parties, in particular the Thomas Cook pension schemes, but it felt as if an agreement was possible.

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In the very short term, fingers will no doubt be pointed at the company's dozen or so lending banks, including Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, whose late demand that Thomas Cook find a further £200m to tide it over the winter months - when tour operators face cash outflows rather than inflows - proved insurmountable.

The banks, for their part, were today arguing that they had "been extremely supportive stakeholders, including through two periods of financial stress and have stood behind Thomas Cook over the past 12 months, a period when the group saw cash outflows of around £1bn".

The lenders have also argued that Thomas Cook has frequently revised, during the last six months, its future financing requirements.

Longer term, however, the collapse of the world's first tour operator lies squarely with the people who were running the company more than a decade ago and, in particular, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, the-then chief executive.

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It was he who embarked on a merger with MyTravel, the struggling package holiday firm previously known as Airtours, in 2007. That business subsequently turned out to be far weaker than expected and, in May this year, Thomas Cook was obliged to write down the value of the old MyTravel business by some £1.1bn.

LIVE: Largest peacetime repatriation begins

Follow developments after the collapse of Thomas Cook

That mistake was compounded when, in 2010, Thomas Cook agreed to merge its high street travel agents with those of the Co-op. This deal eventually evolved into an effective takeover of the Co-op business - saddling Thomas Cook with a huge chain of high street travel agents just as the business was migrating online.

The upshot was that Thomas Cook, earlier this year, admitted that it had debts of £1.6bn. The annual interest payment on that debt was £150m. That was £150m that Thomas Cook had to come up with each year before it could even think about investing money in its business, let alone making a profit.

That debt proved to be a millstone around the company's neck when faced with nimble competitors such as Jet2Holidays and the daddy of the sector, TUI, whose stronger balance sheet enabled it to invest heavily into fast-growing activities such as cruises.

Thomas Cook's current management, led by Peter Fankhauser, came up with some neat ideas of their own. They launched a boutique hotel business, Casa Cook, which won rave reviews from both customers and the wider travel industry, but unfortunately with a debt millstone around the company's neck, this popular concept could not be rolled out on the scale Mr Fankhauser hoped.

There was also an element of bad luck - the business was hit in recent years by terrorist incidents in some of its most popular destinations, such as Tunisia and Turkey, which inevitably deterred customers.

Thomas Cook flights cancelled after collapse

It took a while for business to recover in those countries. The scorching summer in 2018 deterred many British tourists from holidaying abroad. And, inevitably, the uncertainty over Brexit this year gnawed away at customer confidence. This latter factor was compounded as it became clear that Thomas Cook was involved in negotiations to restructure its debt - which again may have put some customers off booking with the company.

And, above all, there was overcapacity in the aviation sector, as shown by the collapse in October 2017 of Monarch, the UK's fifth-largest airline. The woes afflicting the sector have been such that even Ryanair and easyJet, the two biggest players in the low-cost travel sector, have not been immune. Both have cut capacity in response.

Tim Johnson, policy director at the Civil Aviation Authority

Some will suggest that there has been something wrong at the heart of Thomas Cook for a while.

That was certainly implied by the company's response to the deaths of two children, Bobby and Christi Shepherd, who were killed by carbon monoxide fumes emanating from a faulty boiler while on a Thomas Cook holiday in Corfu in 2006.

It subsequently emerged at an inquest into the children's deaths, held in 2015, that neither Mr Fontenla-Novoa or his successor, Harriet Green, had apologised to the children's parents - probably on the advice of lawyers. It was only when Mr Fankhauser became chief executive that the company sought to make amends. He met the children's parents personally to express contrition.

As the blame is apportioned, the government must also take a share.

Not for failing to come up with the £150m for which, overnight, Boris Johnson has confirmed it was asked.

What to do if you're a Thomas Cook customer

Read what you can do if you're overseas or had booked a trip with Thomas Cook

No-one realistically expects taxpayers to support tour operators, even though Thomas Cook's 22,000 employees might reasonably point out to the vast sums of taxpayer support that have been funnelled into supporting steel-making, an industry that employs only a few thousand more people.

But Theresa May's government, after the collapse of Monarch, looked into the possibility of changing the insolvency laws to enable collapsed airlines to continue trading for as long as was needed to bring home stranded customers.

It failed to do so with the parliamentary process consumed with Brexit - but, had that change in the law been made, it would have made winding up Thomas Cook's affairs considerably easier and a lot less costly for taxpayers, who now face a £100m bill for repatriating British holidaymakers.

The effectiveness of the UK's efforts in that regard will now face scrutiny in terms of how they measure up against those of other countries. Thomas Cook was a big pan-European business and, while there are 150,000 British customers stranded overseas, there are more than 600,000 of its customers dotted around more than 50 destinations - many of whom are German or Scandinavian holidaymakers.

Longer term, when the dust settles, Thomas Cook's demise apart from the loss of one of the UK's best-loved consumer brands and 22,000 jobs - will result in less choice for customers and, quite possibly, an increase in the cost of package holidays next summer.

Every One of Thomas Cook’s 17 Brands, Explained

Patrick Whyte, Skift

August 6th, 2018 at 2:30 AM EDT

Thomas Cook, the man, organized his first trip in 1841, and the travel company that bears his name is still going. After a series of mergers and acquisitions the company now has 17 key brands to focus on. Read our take on each.

As befits an organization that can trace its roots back almost two centuries, Thomas Cook Group has collected its fair share of brands.

A series of mergers and acquisitions in the 2000s created a bloated travel behemoth, eventually bringing the London-based company close to collapse.

Just barely surviving, management has worked hard to slim down the travel company and make it relevant for 21st century tourism.

A few things stand out: Thomas Cook has a much bigger focus on hotels than it did a couple of years ago and it also concentrates on fewer tour operator brands than it used to.

We’ve chosen to focus on the core group of 17 key brands and included Thomas Cook’s take on each one (sometimes translated into English) versus our own view.

Hero Tour Operator Brands

Thomas Cook Markets: UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, China

Thomas Cook Take: “There are no compromises to be made on a Thomas Cook holiday. Choose the holiday type that’s perfect for you; we have all inclusive holidays, cruise deals, beach breaks, family holidays and plenty more available to suit all budgets.”

Skift Take: Thomas Cook Group takes its name from the travel brand that can trace its history back to 1841. Essentially, it is a vertically integrated tour operator that controls all parts of the holiday experience. In a number of European markets consumers can buy a Thomas Cook holiday in a Thomas Cook travel agency, fly on a Thomas Cook airline and stay in a Thomas Cook hotel. Although the Thomas Cook brand is mostly associated with the UK, it is present in other markets such as Germany and France. It became famous in the UK for the advertising slogan “Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it.”

Neckermann Markets: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland

Thomas Cook Take: “Neckermann Reisen makes it possible — under this motto, the tour operator has been making holidays for broad sections of the population possible for more than 45 years.”

Skift Take: Another old brand. Founded in 1963. It became part of what is now Thomas Cook through an acquisition in 2000 . Like many of the other brands in the Thomas Cook portfolio, it eventually adopted the sunny heart logo that the company introduced in 2012. Consumers once perceived Neckermann as old-fashioned but it is now much more of a generalist tour operator and has spread from Germany to become the main Thomas Cook brand across much of central Europe.

Ving Markets: Norway and Sweden

Thomas Cook Take: “Ving offers all types of travel, from classic package tours… [and] charter flights to flexible scheduled flights with the customer’s own content.”

Skift Take: Thomas Cook still uses stand-alone brands in Scandinavian markets. Ving is its Swedish and Norwegian offering. It became part of Thomas Cook Group following the merger with MyTravel . The company’s sunny heart logo was first trialled with Ving and Thomas Cook’s other Scandinavian brands.

Spies Markets: Denmark

Thomas Cook Take: “Founded in 1956 by Simon Spies, today [it] is Denmark’s largest travel agent. Spies offers package deals with charter flights (flights and hotels), but it is also possible to book regular packages, as well as flights or only hotels.”

Skift Take: Like Ving and Tjäreborg, Thomas Cook has recognized that Spies is too strong a brand to discard. It became famous across the internet for its “Do It For Denmark” advertising campaign in 2014 .

Tjäreborg Markets: Finland

Thomas Cook Take: “Tjäreborg offers classic package deals with charter flights, but it is also possible to book regular scheduled flights as well as flights or only hotels.”

Skift Take: The third of Thomas Cook’s trio of separately branded tour operators in Scandinavia. The company actually takes its name from a village in Denmark. Tjäreborg is number three in the Finnish market behind TUI Finland and Finnair-owned Aurinkomatkat.

Jet Tours Markets: France

Thomas Cook Take: “Since 1968, Jet Tours… has put a team of travel experts at your disposal to help you choose from more than 50 destinations, more than 40 clubs in 12 countries or within our wide selection of hotels around the world.”

Skift Take: Jet Tours is the only one of Thomas Cook’s hero tour operators not to have the exact same sunny heart brand identity as the rest. The logo is similar but not quite the same. Maybe it’s because it is the newest member of the group. Thomas Cook bought the company from Club Med in 2008 .

Thomas Cook Airlines Markets: UK, Scandinavia, Balearics

Thomas Cook Take: “Over the last four years, we have transformed our airline from four separate national airlines into one group ai rline under one management team, with shared maintenance, IT systems and infrastructure. In parallel, we have expanded the proportion of business that the airline does independent of the tour operator, building a world-class leisure airline which benefits from a dependable, and sizeable, base of tour operator customers, while also increasingly competitive with airlines across Europe on a seat-only basis.”

Skift Take: Actually three separate airlines ( Thomas Cook disbanded the Belgian arm ) but as they have the same branding, we’ll treat them as one. What’s interesting here is that unlike rival TUI Group, Thomas Cook has given its airline some independence, meaning they can try and attract flight-only customers rather than those booking a whole package holiday. Thomas Cook has also spotted what it thinks is a gap in the market by looking at growing in the long-haul market with more flights to the U.S. and South Africa.

Condor Markets: Germany

Thomas Cook Take: “Since the 1950s Condor has been a leader in leisure flights across Europe.”

Skift Take: While technically part of the same airline division as the above trio because it is differently branded it makes sense to take a look at it in isolation. The competitive aviation landscape in Germany led to an attempt to merge the airline with its rivals . It counted Lufthansa — Germany’s dominant player — as a shareholder up until 2009 , when Thomas Cook took complete control. Condor is one of the airlines looking to benefit from the collapse of Germany’s second largest carrier Air Berlin . It is particularly strong in the Caribbean .

Sunwing Family Resorts Global Footprint: 13 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Our Sunwing Family Resorts are where you want to be heading if you’re looking for that extra special family holiday. At our Sunwing hotels, we’ve thought of everything to make your holiday extraordinary, from the Teen Lounges and kids’ clubs to the Happy Baby Rooms and the excellent Bambino Packages that can make life that little bit easier for you.”

Skift Take: A well-known Scandinavian brand that Thomas Cook is introducing to other source markets . Sunwing is the company’s 4 star (+) product aimed at families. Locations include Majorca and Tenerife. If Thomas Cook wants to grow the number of bookings at its own-brand hotels, Sunwing needs better recognition in markets like the UK.

Sunprime Hotels Global Footprint: 17 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Our 4-star Sunprime Hotels offer a unique and peaceful adult-only experience for you to truly unwind on your holiday. So whether you’re travelling as a couple, with a group of friends or with your kids aged 16 or over, you’ll have a perfect, relaxing getaway at any one of our beautiful Sunprime locations.”

Skift Take: Similar to TUI’s Sensimar brand, Sunprime styled as adult’s only. It targets couples and friends with fitness classes, good gym and spa facilities. Like Sunwing it was primarily a Scandinavian brand before Thomas Cook decided to open it up to its other source markets .

SunConnect Resorts Global footprint: 18 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “SunConnect holidays are all about bringing the family together for an unforgettable holiday that everyone will enjoy. Great for kids of all ages, you’ll find an on-site restaurant, kids’ club and family-friendly rooms in every hotel.”

Skift Take: Another Thomas Cook hotel brand aimed at families. SunConnect’s price point is typically lower than sister brand Sunwing. Greece, Spain and Turkey are popular locations. When it launched in 2013 the media billed it as a a hi-tech brand with free Wi-Fi and Xbox consoles, five years later it all sounds a bit out of date.

Cook’s Club Global footprint: 1 hotel

Thomas Cook Take: “Here, you’ll find a melting pot of cultures, textures and flavours that creates a casually cool paradise where everyone is welcome. We focus on good music, great drinks and fantastic food in an atmosphere where you’ll be able to mingle with like-minded people and create your dream holiday.”

Skift Take: Thomas Cook’s newest hotel brand and one that it is hoping will do a lot of business. It’s a slimmed-down budget version of Casa Cook, aimed at design conscious millennials, who take pictures of everything.

Sentido Hotels and Resorts Global Footprint: 68 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Our Sentido Hotels & Resorts are classy and welcoming, with individual style designed to leave you feeling relaxed and revitalised come the end of your holiday. All of our Sentido Hotels are 4 or 5-star, situated in prime locations and the main aim of them is to make you feel good and provide an unforgettable holiday for your senses.”

Skift Take: While not strictly adults only, Sentido is certainly aimed mainly at the couples and single traveler market. It is Thomas Cook’s biggest own-brand hotel but its visual identity is quite different. Might this change over the coming year to bring it more in line with the rest of the company?

Smartline Global footprint: 59 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Our Smartline Hotels want to make sure you get the best value for money on your getaway. Smartline is all about easy-going, fresh and colourful holidays, making sure you have a memorable holiday with your family or friends. Found in the heart of our most popular holiday destinations, these 3 and 4-star hotels are always close to the beach.”

Skift Take: It looks like Thomas Cook is having second thoughts about the roll-out of this budget brand as it has reduced the number of properties in recent years. It doesn’t really fit in with Thomas Cook’s newer offerings, which are much more stylized. Could the Cook’s Club brand end up replacing it?

Casa Cook Global Footprint: 3 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Casa Cook holidays are all about nourishing your mind, body and soul. Whether you want an adult-focused holiday with your partner or a group of friends, or a relaxing getaway with your family, you’ll love the laid-back atmosphere of our Casa Cook Hotels.”

Skift Take: Thomas Cook tried something new and different with its “affordable chic” Casa Cook product. The company has worked hard with the brand positioning and seems to have done a good job driving interest. CEO Peter Fankhauser said 90 percent of guests were new to Thomas Cook. If the company is going to make headway with younger travelers, especially in the UK, it really needs Casa Cook to be a success.

Aldiana Global Footprint: 9 hotels

Thomas Cook Take: “Vacation time means time for yourself and for the loved ones. In our Aldiana Clubs we offer you a variety of freedoms and opportunities. In addition to a varied sports, fitness and wellness program, you can choose between many other activities and offers: feasting, sunbathing, relaxing, party celebrations under the stars or enjoy our late riser breakfast.”

Skift Take: Having sold its remaining interest in Aldiana back in 2012 it was somewhat surprising to see Thomas Cook pick up a 42 percent stake last year . The deal was part of a wider strategic alliance with LMEY Investments, a Swiss-based hotel property development company, and shows just how interested Thomas Cook is in improving its hotel offering. Aldiana specializes in active holidays and competes with the likes of TUI-owned Robinson Club.

Thomas Cook Money Markets: Mainly UK and Sweden

Thomas Cook Take: “Thomas Cook Money brings all of Thomas Cook’s existing financial services under one roof but will also focus on launching innovative new products to help customers plan, save, borrow and spend their holiday money, both at home and abroad.”

Skift Take: Thomas Cook sees travel financial services as an untapped market. It has combined all its previous assets under one umbrella brand and appointed a heavy-hitter from the banking industry to run the division . It now offers a prepaid currency card, an app-based insurance product and a mobile banking app. “The aim is to double our existing base of 3 million financial services customers over the next 5 years by also leveraging higher profits per customer,” CEO Peter Fankhauser said last year.

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Photo credit: A Thomas Cook Group branded towel. The company 177-year-old company is trying to reinvent itself. Thomas Cook Group

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Thomas Cook is an online travel agent offering package holidays, hotel only, city breaks and more, to destinations all over the world. So whether you're after an All Inclusive getaway that's perfect for the family in Majorca, want a romantic weekend in Rome, or are looking for the ultimate experience in Vegas, we've got you covered.And as for cheap holidays?
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Thomas Cook and the Invention of Mass Tourism in Victorian Britain

Harry Sherrin

Temperance trips

Branching out to Europe

Going global

Conquering air and sea

Into the modern era

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