Co-operative group boss Peter Marks has vowed the merged retail division with Thomas Cook will continue to support independent operators.
“Independent tour operators will still be able to sell their products through our stores,” he said this morning.
Speaking exclusively to Travel Weekly, Co-op group chief executive Marks said: “Of course we will be pushing Thomas Cook, but not just Cook exclusively. Thomas Cook has already started selling other people’s products and we won’t change that.”
Marks admitted however that the Co-operative’s struggling in-house tour operation – the Co-operative Group Holidays joint venture with Cosmos – and its in-house tour operation Escape, were now “under review”.