| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 22/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 13 |
| Copyright: Other |
Travel used to be considered a slow and sluggish industry. Now, with rapid consolidation and the emergence of new technologies, travel is very much at the forefront of industry.
john donaldson
A week is a very long time in travel! Once regarded as a slightly sluggish industry where nothing much changed from year to year, leisure travel today is a pacey business indeed.A few years ago the major players in the UK knew their place in the pecking order. Then there was a change in the market. Rapid consolidation had UK companies acquiring and merging in a feeding frenzy.
This consolidation has since extended from the UK across the channel, with huge pan-European players gobbling up aircraft, shops, hotel beds and anything else on the menu.
So the scale of the business has changed. But so has the route to market. A few years ago the direct-sales call centres were the talk of the industry, giving the customer a choice of ways to book.
Then, whoosh! Enter stage-left new high-tech channels of delivery such as the Internet, interactive TV and WAP mobile phones.
And which industry charges to the front of the queue, shifting its products over the Internet and opening up the market for hundreds of new entrants? Travel. The way the industry looks has changed.
We now operate in an exciting industry where the geographical boundaries are dissolving and in which any travel player can compete.
Muscle in Europe and the right Internet site are fantastic assets. But recent high-profile media stories have demonstrated that it is the strength of a brand that determines longevity, attracts the best people and holds the public’s trust.
In the past week the landscape has changed radically, not only for the industry but for Thomas Cook itself.
Preussag, our majority shareholder for just under a year, is now teaming up with Thomson to create a new force in tourism across Europe.
We do not yet know what our future shareholding structure will be but have already started the process of reshaping it. The next organisation that takes a stake in Thomas Cook will be the ninth to do so since the Cook family relinquished control in 1948.
Our shareholders over the years have given us a little cash, international influence, great support and, quite often, a fresh perspective.
But they have not affected the brand – this has a power that speaks for itself.
And our people have moved with the times as fast as anyone. They are innovative, responsive to the market, not afraid to take risks and they embody the Thomas Cook brand values and more recently, the brand values we are building for JMC.
They are trustworthy, with a commitment to the customer and an expertise and knowledge of travel that is unsurpassed and has enabled the company to survive and prosper in this industry for the past 160 years.
It will be very interesting to see what next week brings!
“It is the strength of a brand that determines its longevity”