Another giant tour operator for Europe

EUROPE’S biggest tour operator, TUI, is merging its tour operations with First Choice to create a giant leisure operator. This follows the merger last month of Thomas Cook and MyTravel in the UK. The company will be called TUI Travel in which TUI AG will have a majority shareholding of 51%. The company will be based in the UK and will look to list on the London Stock Exchange. The combination of the two groups will bring more than 200 brands under a single umbrella.The new-look group will have 27m customers in 20 source markets, sales of £12bn (R172,8bn) and a market value of more than £3bn (R43,2bn). Lucy Siebert (lucys@nowmedia.co.za)