TORONTO — It was the end of an era, with a legendary travel brand passing hands – although its ultimate demise worldwide was still a few years in the future.
The throwback headline for this edition of ‘It Happened This Week’ is: ‘Worth $79.8 million in 1995, Thomas Cook sells North American assets for $5.3 million’
Keep in mind, this wasn’t about Thomas Cook filing for liquidation, stranding some 600,000 passengers worldwide. That would play out some years later, in 2019.
For now, Thomas Cook was still solvent, but selling off its North American division.
As the Travelweek story notes, back in 1995, when one- and two-week ITC packages ruled, UK-based Airtours paid a premium $79.8 million for Sunquest Vacations. Airtours rebranded as MyTravel Group in 2002 and merged with Thomas Cook to form Thomas Cook Group plc in 2007. So much changed in the travel industry in the intervening years, that Thomas Cook Group was now selling its North American assets – Sunquest plus Holiday House, FunSun Vacations, Encore CruiseEscapes, ALBATours and more – to Red Label Vacations and Thomas Cook North America senior management, for just $5.3 million.
Did the headline appear in Travelweek this week in 2010, 2013 or 2016?
Fill out the contest form below, with your guess and your email address. We’ll announce the answer and the winner next week, along with the next contest headline. Last week’s headline about U by Uniworld changing course on its age restriction and opening its sailings up to all adults ran in March 2018. Our winner for Week #3 is Karen Schabel from CAA Saskatchewan in Regina. Congratulations Karen!
Every Wednesday in Travelweek Daily, we’re posting an article from Travelweek’s archives, spanning the years 1973 – 2023. Guess the correct year the story ran, and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card. There’s a new headline and a new chance to win every single week.
