NEWS — HOT STORIES 2 Erik Friemuth
Thomson to go by 2018 but First Choice to remain
Ian Taylor
Tui has confirmed it will replace the Thomson name with the Tui ‘power brand’ in two or “at the latest” three years, but First Choice will remain. Group chief marketing officer
Erik Friemuth told Travel Weekly: “We’ll migrate Thomson [to the Tui brand]. “We have not said we’ll have a single brand strategy, but a single brand strategy for our power brand. There are brands within Tui that differentiate themselves nicely. We’ll keep the VIP brand in Belgium, for example. “We’re referring to the main tour operator brands in our source markets when we talk about migrating to the power brand Tui.” Friemuth agreed First Choice
was likely to be the biggest brand “left outside Tui”.
“Thomson is super-successful and the brand plays a part in this,” he added. “That is why we put the UK to the end of the process. “Thomson offers by far the most
mature customer experience in our company.” But he insisted: “We want this
process to be formalised in two or, at the latest, three years.” He said: “It’s too early to talk about the execution of this in the UK. We’re at the planning stage; nothing has been decided yet. “We’ll migrate [to the Tui
brand] in the Netherlands [from October] and introduce it in France. Belgium will be next year, then the Nordics.” Tui is already the
brand in use in Germany, where consultancy Interbrand rated it the 24th-best German brand of 2015, up from number 30 in 2014, and assessed its value to have increased year on year to €1.4 billion. Friemuth said: “It underlines
what we’re doing. Power brands tend to have a higher valuation. “In Ireland or the Nordics we
have a pretty cluttered customer experience. We want to present one brand. “Digitally, we’re aiming for one
URL,
Tui.com. This will help us to be more competitive online.”
Air Travel Trust’s £100m ‘too little to cover a big failure’
Lee Hayhurst and Jennifer Morris
The fund that backs the Atol financial protection scheme has topped the £100 million surplus mark, but is still not enough, according to industry experts. The Air Travel Trust (ATT) reported the fund sat at a record £93.7 million on March 31. The CAA said it was now more than £100 million. The ATT was £32 million in debt in 2010 after the £1 Atol
Protection Contribution (APC) was raised to £2.50, but returned to surplus for the first time in 17 years in 2013. This led to calls for APC to be reduced, but one leading industry body branded this dangerous and will propose a new scheme to raise cover to £350 million. Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the Association of Atol
Companies, said now the EU Package Travel Directive was agreed, a new solution should be considered. “Cutting the £2.50 is an option but it is dangerous,
as the fund would have less income,” he said. “We are working with major insurance brokers on our
own scheme that would cost £2.50 or less.” Chris Photi, head of travel and leisure at White Hart
Associates, said he expected APC for Flight-Plus packages for all firms operating trusts to be cut to £1.25. But he said the levy would remain because the ATT surplus did not
cover the risk of failure of the largest operators. He repeated warnings the ATT could come to be regarded as
a revenue-raising opportunity by the government after APC was deemed a tax in May 2013. Andrew Burnham, of accountants MacIntyre Hudson, said it was
reasonable for the industry to demand APC be reviewed once the ATT reached a “reasonable level”. “I would suggest that we have reached that level,” he said.
25 June 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 5 3
“Power
brands tend to have a higher
valuation”
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