Western Cape tourism continues

THOMAS COOK COLLAPSE: SHOULDN’T HAVE MUCH IMPACT ON THE PROVINCE

rail excursions.

About seven years later the company was renamed Thomas Cook & Son when his son John joined him in the firm, just before the business soared internationally.

In 1997, the company launched Thomas Cook Online, making it the first travel agency to offer customers a way to buy holidays, foreign currency, traveller’s cheques and travel guides online.

Although a major innovator in leisure travel, it found itself struggling to find its place in a more online-focused travel market. By 2011 its debt had ballooned to over £1 billion.

Two years later the company merged Thomas Cook Airlines in the UK, Belgium, and Scandinavia, together with Condor in Germany, into a single operating division within the group.

However, financial turmoil March, resulting in 320 job losses.

The company, which had lost 64% of its customers to e-commerce services, recorded a £1.5 billion loss for the first half of the year and issued its third profit warning in less than 12 months.

Desperately trying to shift the blame, it said customers were postponing their summer travel plans due to the uncertainty around Brexit. It finally lost all hope, along with excuses for obtaining a private-sector rescue deal, on Saturday.

“Thomas Cook’s woes go back to a disastrous merger in 2007, ballooning debts and the internet revolution in holiday bookings as well as increasing Brexit uncertainty and a weaker pound,” IHS Markit senior economist Thea Fourie says.

“In reality, Thomas Cook’s merger with MyTravel in 2007 meant it was merging with a company that had only made a profit once in the previous six years,” she adds. “The deal saddled Thomas Cook with huge debts.” hit in