Thomas Cook’s chief executive has revealed that the operator is to restructure its upmarket brand Signature, invest heavily in emerging markets India, Russia and China and throw itself into dominating the online travel agency world.
Manny Fontenla-Novoa told delegates at the ITT conference in Benidorm that Signature had been underutilised and that former Gold Medal boss Terry Fisher would be taking the reins.
He also said that Thomas Cook had fared well in the last year, claiming its low share price was due to the ash cloud, and revealed the company wanted to focus on wooing holidaymakers in as yet untapped markets.
The Thomas Cook head also did a u-turn on the CAA versus Travel Republic case, telling delegates he now thought the CAA should drop its litigation against the company because it was getting in the way of sorting out new legislation over consumer protection in travel.
Fontenla-Novoa revealed that the operator was also focusing on online selling in a big way. At the moment, some 28% of sales come via the internet and the operator wants to become a “dominant player” in the European online travel agency scene.
