—The Shanghai, China-based conglomerate Fosun last week increased its stake in Thomas Cook Group to 11 percent. The move followed Fosun’s action in March when it boosted the percentage of shares it holds in Europe’s second largest travel group increasing to from one percent to 10 percent. Fosun, which owns Club Med, took an initial 5 percent shareholding in Thomas Cook for £91.8 million ($118 million) two years ago. This was largely seen as paving the way for Thomas Cook to access the fast-growing Chinese market over the medium term.
—Super Break is launching a new logo, look and feel, starting with the release of its latest UK Short Breaks brochure. The new look has been designed to reflect the company’s move to focus on “experience-led, packaged products.” A key component of the new look is the use of brackets to symbolize the elements that build a personalized trip. The aim is to make it easier for agents to highlight products that can be added to a break—which are all pre-bookable and commissionable. The operator will also launch its biggest ever TV campaign later this summer.
—Southall Travel has unveiled plans to launch dedicated student travel and sports travel businesses. Appearing last week at a Barclays Travel Forum in London, Kuljinder Bahia, the company’s owner and managing director said the student travel brand would be launched within three months. The new venture is ready to go, he explained, but the group was struggling to find a good domain name. The sports division will be launched soon afterwards and already has a name—ST Sports—he added.
—easyJet has joined Get Your Guide and launched a new partnership offering customers tours and excursions alongside its flights, offering customers more than 16,000 activities across Europe. Get Your Guide claims to be the world’s largest online platform for booking tours, attractions and activities. At easyJet, its products will be available through a dedicated site—activities.easyJet.com—and within the easyJet app. Most of the tickets are paperless, so customers simply scan a QR code at the tour or activity to gain entry. Push notifications will also act as a reminder of the booking. Get Your Guide will also add more tours to easyJet’s destinations to encourage travelers to add them at the time of booking.
