Tui chief executive Peter Long has congratulated the new management team at rival Thomas Cook for their efforts in restructuring the business.
His comments came as Cook chief executive Harriet Green suggested that she is under less pressure to make disposals.
Long told the Mail on Sunday: “There’s been a lot written about our major competitor. They’re clearly on a journey of rehabilitation and I have to say, so far, well done, in terms of reshaping the business.
“That can only be healthy for the industry to have two strong competitors.”
Green, interviewed in the Sunday Times following her first anniversary in charge of Cook, hinted that she was pleased with the progress of selling the group’s stake in Nats – National Air Traffic Service – saying: “There’s no lack of interest”.
However, with the company’s balance sheet patched up, Green insisted there is less pressure to make more disposals.
“It’s good not to have to sell as many assets are we thought we might have to at one point,” she told the newspaper.
Growth will come from improving the website and offering options that are not available from any other holiday provider, such as what Green dubs as “concept hotels”.
She said: “In the past 52 weeks we have said what we are going to do. Now we have to do it.
“No one forged a reputation on saying what they are going to do. We have to deliver results – it’s about achieving profitable growth.”
Green added: “We needed to take away the ego, the testosterone and the silos. We have all come together.”