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Open letter from Thomas Cook chief exec

Sam Weihagen, group chief executive at Thomas Cook Group, issued the following open letter after announcing that the company had secured a £200m bank loan (see earlier story).
"What a week it’s been for Thomas Cook, its people, partners and, most importantly, our valued customers. We’ve received a great deal of attention and many have been voicing their opinions on our company.
I'm so pleased to let you know that our banking discussions have been completely successful and I want to show our appreciation for the incredible encouragement and support we have received over the past few days.
Thomas Cook today is an even stronger and more confident company. You can be sure that your holiday really is in safe hands with us and so, we look forward to welcoming you to one of our stores, our websites, onboard our aircraft and into one of our many thousands of resorts worldwide very soon.
As one of the world’s largest leisure travel groups, we have the most recognised and established name in the industry. Our customers have trusted Thomas Cook with their holidays and travel experiences for more than 170 years, so we know just how much they mean to you. That’s why, all over the world, across 22 different countries, we have a team of more than 31,000 colleagues on a mission to go further every single day to make your holiday time with us the best time of the year. We feel proud and privileged to have been part of the Great British heritage for nearly two centuries and I have no doubt that we will still be in another 170 years and beyond.
Thank you once again for your extraordinary support, and a big thank you to the thousands of Thomas Cook people who have worked tirelessly over the last few days to ensure there has been absolutely no impact at all on the holidays and services we deliver for our valued customers."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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