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Cook to ‘address UK performance’


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Thomas Cook has pledged to “address performance” in its UK tour operating business after issuing a second profits warning in just over two months.


Chief executive Peter


Fankhauser said this would include “streamlining” its cost base and managing capacity more flexibly. He has also outlined plans


to improve sales of higher-margin own-brand hotels and differentiated holidays next year. The company revealed a


£58 million slump in annual profits to  million two days ahead of its fullyear financial results on Thursday this week, a figure that would be around  million lower than forecast. The lower earnings were mainly


blamed on discounting in the lates market after trading was hit by the summer heatwave, with the UK performance “particularly disappointing”. This resulted in an £88 million


fall in tour operating profits for the year to September . A similar profits warning was


Casa Cook in Chania will be the brand’s first family property when it opens next summer


issued by Cook in September. Fankhauser said: “Looking ahead, we must learn the lessons from  and go into the new year focused on where we can make a difference to customers in our core holiday offering. “We will put particular attention


on addressing the performance of our UK tour operator where the challenges of transformation in a competitive environment remain significant. “Across the group we will continue to streamline our cost base and manage our capacity to give us greater operational flexibility and financial discipline. [We will] focus the team on delivering performance improvements and give customers more reasons to holiday with Thomas Cook.”


Cook said bookings of its own-


brand hotels had risen by . The company has a pipeline of at least  new hotels for  (Travel Weekly, ovember . Ownbrand hotel growth is being accelerated through a  million investment fund. The company reported strong


airline profit growth of  million, despite higher disruption costs.


Thorne Travel staff film in the store


Thorne releases its festive sequel


Samantha Mayling


t was dubbed the “funniest travel agent video ever” and went viral within days of being aired.


Now, the stars of Scottish agency Thorne Travel’s infamous  promotional video, with its pumping house soundtrack and a flash mob, are back after a fouryear gap with a festive seuel. The video tells the story of


Santa, who is stranded when his sleigh breaks down – but Mrs Claus contacts the agency owner Shona Thorne for help. Agency staff are seen coming


into the shop wearing festive pyamas and rollers as they fix Santa’s travel arrangements. Auditions were held with local


schools and about  pupils appear in the film, acting as elves and opening presents. Scenes were filmed in and


around Glasgow airport, including in the Emirates lounge and on a Loganair aircraft. Other scenes feature reindeer at a local hotel, iverside Lodge Hotel in rvine. The script was devised by staff and the film was made by


“We hope in January that we will be in the minds of customers booking holidays”


professional video production company AMD Studios, which created the first video in . Based in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, independent retailer Thorne Travel hit the national headlines in  when its promo video racked up thousands of views online. It started as a spoof of strutting


Virgin Atlantic cabin crew and went on to feature a ship’s captain in an oversized jacket, an incongruous backflip on a pavement, and ickey and innie ouse. Lynsey Ferrol, project


development consultant at the agency, said Thorne Travel hopes its latest video will also be a big hit when it is launched on December  and aired on social media. Ferrol said: “We hope that in January we will be in the minds of customers booking holidays and their important ourneys. t’s a good way of raising our profile and involving the whole community.”


29 November 2018travelweekly.co.uk5 3 STORIES HOT


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