Articles tagged “thomas cook”

Despite facing plenty of challenges, Spain saw a healthy growth in international tourists in 2017. But this year is likely to be tougher because of Barcelona's troubles and with places like Turkey regaining some of their popularity.

Common wisdom among tour operators has always been that to have a good year, you needed to have a good January, and it is still no different. While the reasons for booking holidays early might hark back to the pre-Internet era, the consumer pattern hasn't changed very much.

China is a tiny part of its overall business right now, but Thomas Cook is thinking long term. Whether the company's expansion into China is a success or not will probably come down to the strength of its local opposition, which is deeply entrenched.

Thomas Cook indicated that the problems in the UK were specific to this summer and that overall the business is in good shape. That might be the case but if the UK economy is hit by any Brexit-related issues in 2018 it could be a similar story – or worse – next year.

The online travel environment is transitioning at a hectic pace when you consider mobile and artificial intelligence. Expedia's new CEO, Mark Okerstrom, will have to find a way to chart his company's evolution at an appropriate speed to keep up. It won't always be smooth sailing.

Thomas Cook's efforts to strip its hotel business back to its core exclusive sun and beach properties continues. The deal with Expedia seems more wide-ranging than the previous tie-up with Webjet, and chief executive Peter Fankhauser's comments hint at a potential for a closer arrangement in the future.

Tour operators have longed for Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Egypt and Tunisia to return to their previous popularity. All of these destinations offer better value to consumers than Spain, which is at close-to-full capacity and more expensive. Their return is also good news for the people who rely on tourism for a living.

Under CEO Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook has quietly managed to turn itself around. The situation this year has undoubtedly been aided by an improving geopolitical climate but a more focussed, higher-quality product offering has also helped.

Thomas Cook has hit the ground running in China but it's not running away from its core business in Europe. The group doesn't want to be too aggressive in China before its made more of a name for itself in the market and sees how consumers respond.

While it's good news for Greece that bookings are on the rise, the struggle to find value in Spain shows just how difficult a summer it might be for European tour operators. Thomas Cook's cautious outlook hints at gloomier times ahead.