Comment: Cook’s results give grounds for optimism

Thomas Cook managed something today that many senior people in the industry thought impossible.

It published a set of annual results that, as was widely predicted, appeared to allow the group to look forward to the year ahead.

While underlining how much work there is still to do to turn around the ailing travel giant, there was enough to be positive about in the figures to allow new boss Harriet Green to declare that Cook has ‘turned a corner'.  

Clearly there is much more needed to be done to streamline the business and that is likely to mean Green has to make some tough decisions in the coming months which may not be good news for some Travel Weekly readers. 

But it should not be forgotten that this time a year ago, Cook had to postpone its annual results while it sought emergency funding.

The Times newspaper reported ‘Thomas Cook on the brink' and the company seemed set to fail. Its share price fell to 11p where once (in April 2010) it had been £2.70. The headlines left the group with a 30% drop in UK bookings this week a year ago.

This week we report that Cook believes its Christmas 2012 marketing campaign will lead the way for the industry. New marketing director Mike Hoban argues the campaign will remind people “why they know and trust the Thomas Cook name”.

I'm proud that Travel Weekly never joined the doom?mongers. At the height of the crisis, we wrote: “The group is in serious trouble, but not as much as media reports would have you believe.”

The past year has seen big changes, the latest being the departure of Simon Robinson and his replacement last week by Joanna Wild as head of retail. Now German Peter Fankhauser runs the UK operation and Green the group.

There is a new optimism at Thomas Cook. Let's hope this extends beyond the company and signals a wider recovery.