Dertour is gearing up to take on the big two in the UK thanks to new technology.
The German tour operator, which specialises in central and Eastern Europe in the UK, has undergone a significant technology upgrade that allows the British office to access the entire global portfolio of accommodation through its Frankfurt headquarters.
The move means in the new year, the operator, which set up Tui originally, will be talking to agents and consortia to find out what programmes they want, and put them together accordingly.
Tim Locke, Dertour’s head of marketing, said: “We’ve been given the chance to compete head to head with Thomas Cook and Tui but we need to find the right distribution partners. We are number one in Germany for the Middle East, North America and city breaks. Bringing them into the UK market is quite a big thing.”
Dertour chairman Michael Frese said: “It has been an ambition to share our quality product with our satellite offices. Our UK office now has the necessary framework to distribute all of our worldwide products to the UK market.”