Chinese company Fosun, which planned to acquire a controlling stake in Thomas Cook Group, has acquired the rights to the tour operator's trademark for £11 million (approximately 900 billion rubles), FOX NEWS reports.
In addition, Fosun acquired the ownership rights The Casa Cook and Cook's Club hotel brands, as well as domain names and associated brands, are known in all global markets. According to media reports, competitor TUI Group was interested in purchasing the Thomas Cook website, but their offer was rejected. Ironically, Fosun is planning to relaunch the tour operator, which failed to compete with OTAs, as an online booking system.
Sergey Zhang Sha, CEO of China Tour & Business Travel, believes that the Chinese holding company will use the Thomas Cook brand both to send Chinese tourists to Europe and to organize European travel to China. He believes the latter will also be supported by the UK government.
"Fosun has never sold tours under its own brand—the holding company is little known abroad, and even in China, it operated under the Thomas Cook brand. Therefore, this decision is entirely logical. Furthermore, the British tour operator had a strong presence in the Chinese market, owning real estate and hotels. Fosun had already invested heavily in the Thomas Cook brand. Chinese investors often invest in established brands with a long-standing reputation, such as Volvo or IBM," he told a TRN correspondent.
Source: trn-news.ru