Travel giant TUI is to phase out the Thomson and First Choice holiday brands in order to migrate to a single brand across all its markets.
The move follows the merger of the group’s London-based UK business with its German parent company, a move which made TUI the biggest travel operator in the world, with more than 300 hotels, 136 planes and 1,800 shops across Europe selling holidays to 30million customers in 180 countries.
The First Choice and Thomson names will be phased out gradually, over the next few years, with the UK being the last country to see the changes.
The group is also planning to use one single branding for its airlines. TUI currently operates around 140 medium- and long-haul aircraft in various markets under different brand names (TUIfly, Thomsonfly, Arkefly, Jetairfly, TUIfly Nordic). It said that a one-brand policy will “make it considerably easier to use the aircraft of the European fleet and the crews across the individual countries, as demand requires it”.
Fritz Joussen, Joint CEO of the TUI Group said: “We seek to use the strength of our TUI brand on a global scale. A global brand experience and a global brand identity offer many advantages for our customers and for our employees. The appeal of TUI and the Smile are extremely high. A strong global presence of the TUI brand will strengthen our Group’s competitiveness in the digital age.”
TUI, then called Preussag, bought Thomson in 2000, it was founded in 1965 and has since become an iconic UK package holiday name. Along with First Choice, it will be dropped in the next three years in favour of a single TUI brand. Over the same period, TUI said that annual profits were expected to grow 10%.
