Independent tour operators are up in arms at the merger of Thomas Cook and The Cooperative Travel retailers and at least one, Page & Moy, will call on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate.
Page & Moy chief executive William Burton said: “This is a deeply anti-competitive development and warrants a full investigation. I’m deeply concerned. Cooperative Travel is our biggest single distributor. There will be no credible distribution alternative to Thomas Cook or Tui Travel except the agency consortia.”
Burton plans to write to the OFT and hopes other tour operators will join in opposing the merger.
He told Travel Weekly: “The big two companies are pushing up prices ahead of inflation and we have seen an unwillingness to distribute third-party product. I’m sure other tour operators will be concerned. We are all dependent on Cooperative Travel.”
Burton warned: “There will be no competition on commission and [the big two] will be in a position to jack up third-party distribution rates – if they distribute third parties at all.”
Both Thomas Cook boss Manny Fontenla-Novoa and Co-operative Group chief Peter Marks have pledged that the merged network will support third parties.
Page & Moy carries 100,000 passengers a year and has a turnover of £120 million. Its holidays are sold through the Co-operative Travel and independent retailers, but the company has no distribution agreement with Thomas Cook or Tui Travel.
“I can see there is a strong commercial imperative for the merger,” said Burton. “But it is a really big concern.”
He said recent attempts to expand Page & Moy’s retail sales by extending distribution of its Travelsphere brand through the Co-operative Travel had been blocked, arguing: “If you were about to merge with a retailer with its own tour operation, you wouldn’t rush to sign deals with other tour operators, would you?”