Thomas Cook Group has poached an executive from arch rival Tui to help run its hotels and resort business.
Ingo Burmester will join in 2017 as chief of hotels and resorts, working alongside Andre Witschi who has held the position since July.
Burmester is moving from Tui Germany where he was most recently managing director of Robinson Club, responsible for 24 resorts in 12 countries. He has worked for Tui for 16 years.
Witschi will build on the work he has started to shape and develop the next phase of the hotels and resorts business over the next year, reflecting its importance to Thomas Cook’s strategy for profitable growth.
He will then continue in a non-executive role, enabling the team to continue to benefit from his considerable experience, Cook said.
Chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: “Andre Witschi and the team have made great progress so far in developing our hotels and resorts business, building on the success of our Sunwing and Sunprime resorts, our fantastic clubs in France and our exciting new Casa Cook brand.
“I am pleased we have been able to attract someone of Ingo Burmester’s experience to work alongside Andre and the team to help build a strong hotels and resorts company that sits at the heart of our holiday offering for customers.”