Thomas Cook plans online drive to push up growth

Holiday giant Thomas Cook has vowed to embrace the internet and online sales as bosses seek to boost profits by more than £ 334 million in the next three years.

The ailing travel firm has just unveiled its much- heralded turn around strategy which looks to simplify the business, which has its UK headquarters in Bretton, Peterborough, and place more importance on selling holidays online.

Newly appointed chief executive Harriet Green said: “We are excited to now reveal our new strategy based on four cornerstone principles.

“These are delighting customers with trusted, personalised holiday experiences through a high tech, high touch approach.

“Based on comprehensive consumer research we aspire to occupy a unique position in the market through our new strategy, deliver industry leading margins and customer loyalty, whilst maintaining consistent quality that can be trusted.

“We will expand our already successful hotel concepts ; and build a new portfolio of flexible, trusted products and services; creating a single gateway for customers to access personalised recommendations, specifically tailored to meet their needs.”

Ms Green, who recently announced plans to cut the firm’s UK head count by 2,500, including 350 people in Peterborough, said she hopes growth of at least 3.5 percent a year by 2015.

“We need to move from turn around to transformation now and create a simplified, restructured business, which translates our strengths into profitable growth.

But Ms Green said she is also looking to make a further £ 50million of cuts in addition to £ 160 million pounds of cost savings already undertaken.

As part of the firm’s bid for sales growth, Ms Green has created a digital advisory board, involving independent experts, and plans to reduce its online brands to three in the UK and improve the performance of its websites.

Shares in Thomas Cook, which have more than doubled in value over the last three months, were up 15.8 percent at 100.75p at 2 pm yesterday.

Thomas Cook chief executive Harriet Green

The Thomas Cook store in Queensgate, which is to remain open.