Peter Long has pledged to remain in his proposed new role of chairman of the merged Tui businesses for at least five years.
The current Tui Travel chief executive was speaking after an agreement was made on Monday for a tie-up with German counterpart Tui AG to create the world’s largest holiday group.
Long said: “What we are trying to create is the world’s largest vertically integrated leisure travel business as a business model that will be sustainable for the next 15 years.”
The amalgamation will “future proof” the combined business and give access to more exclusive content at Tui AG.
Further benefits of bringing the two businesses together include improved hotel occupancy, further unspecified cost savings and better yield management.
“From a personal perspective I am very, very supportive of this merger,” Long said.
There is a planned transition period where Long and his German counterpart Friedrich Joussen will become joint CEOs until February 2016.
Long will then take up the chairmanship of the supervisory board.
“The shareholders have already expressed their support for that transition period. It will then be my intention to remain as chairman of the supervisory board for at least five years,” he said.
“I am committed in terms of the journey, I am very excited by the journey and I will play a very important role to ensure to create the value that we’ve outlined.”