THOMAS COOK, The Big Name in International Travel

Today, when one thinks of travel, the first name that comes to mind is Thomas Cook, It is the world’s most popular travel brand, thanks to the inspiration, persistence and dedication of a one-time cabinet maker and former Baptist preacher, Thomas Cook,

The first child of John and Elizabeth Cook, Thomas, grew up in a small village called Melbourne in Derbyshire. At age fourteen, he was undergoing an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. Several years later, Thomas joined the local temperance society and became a preacher, touring the region as an evangelist distributing leaflets and on occasion, making cabinets to earn money.

How It All Started

On July 5, 1841, Thomas Cook started his international travel company. He launched a successful one-day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough, charging one shilling per head. During the next several years, Thomas Cook, via rail travel arranged a series of trips between Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham on behalf of the local temperance society and Sunday schools, many of whose members experienced traveling on a train for the first time. But, Thomas, the visionary was setting the foundations of his future business venture. From there, he devoted his time into a whole new and expanded kind of company committed to helping Britons see and experience the world.

The Expansion Of The Thomas Cook Travel Business

Thomas Cook, having visited Wales, Scotland and Ireland by the end of 1850, had began to set his sights on Europe, the United States and the Holy Land. He went on to expand his business in Britain but his mind was set on developing it too in Europe. It wasn’t long before he had huge, organized tours that included Brussels, Cologne, the Rhine, Antwerp, Geneva in Switzerland and Italy. Using his friendship with hoteliers on these tours, he developed the hotel coupon for meals at different hotels, along with what was known then as a circular note, a sort of a paper note issued by Thomas Cook that could be exchanged for real currency. This was the forerunner of the travelers check.

The Father And Son Partnership

In partnership with his son, John Mason Cook, Thomas couldn’t be stopped from travelling around the world and expanding the business. This time, it was the United States by rail from New York to San Francisco. Then on to Japan, China, Singapore, India, Cairo and back to London. Meanwhile, his son John had completed the company’s move to a new headquarters at Ludgate Circus. He developed the overseas version of The Excursionist, a newspaper started by his father to update and inform customers about the business. Distributed in France, Germany, Australasia, India, America and the Far East, this was later to be known as the widely-read Traveller’s Gazette.

Thomas Cook Today

Thomas Cook is now one of the world’s top leaders in leisure travel. It has an annual sales of over 9 billion pounds brought in by 20 million customers. Its operations is supported by a highly trained force of 27,000 key executives and employees running the business from 17 countries. In all its major market segments, Thomas Cook is either the dominant, leading brand or a strong 2nd.

The Thomas Cook Vision

The company vision is to deliver reliable, personalized holiday experiences via its high-tech, high-touch strategy. They are committed to be there for their customers, wherever, whenever and however they’d want to connect with them.

Their working philosophy is based on Thomas Cook’s timeless spirit of innovation started in 1841. It is this company’s image and reputation that make it stand out from the rest, as reflected in the company’s new, trusted products and expanding online tools and applications, as the “RepAdvisor” and “DreamCapture”. It was innovation that shaped the company’s past, it is what they’ll bring to the future.

The Thomas Cook Products

Thomas Cook offers a wide exciting array of hundreds of destinations, thousands of excellent hotels, adult-only, private resorts, family-friendly locations and various types of kids’ clubs. They’re proud to have the ability to create a holiday package to suit everyone’s taste and preference.

They’ve got Package Holidays, Family Holidays, all Inclusive Holidays, Ski Holidays, Disney Holidays, City Breaks, Cruises, Hotels, Flights, Activity Breaks, UK Breaks, Bureau de Change, Travel Money, Car hire and Wedding Packages.

The Thomas Cook Website :

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http://plus.google.com/+ThomasCookUK

http://www.youtube.com/user/thomascookuk