Temperance tours to inclusive packages: a history of Thomas Cook - The Guardian

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Temperance tours to inclusive packages: a history of Thomas Cook - The Guardian

Temperance tours to inclusive packages: a history of Thomas Cook - The Guardian

Posted: 21 Sep 2019 06:02 AM PDT

By today's standards of all-inclusive resorts with free bars and infinity pools, the first Thomas Cook holiday, which whisked customers 12 miles by train from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough, sounds like a hard sell.

But the excursion, organised in 1841 by Derbyshire cabinet-maker Thomas Cook for 500 like-minded supporters, laid the foundations of a business that made him the father of modern tourism. The former Baptist preacher believed the ills of Victorian society stemmed largely from alcohol, and saw a chance to spread the word via Britain's flourishing rail network.

It would be another four years before Cook got into the tourist business proper, organising train trips from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby to Liverpool – this time for profit.

Then, in 1846, he ran the first of the Scottish tours that would soon become a lucrative operation. He conveyed 350 wide-eyed Sassenachs by train and steamboat to Glasgow, and for customers travelling for the first time, he offered guidebooks such as Cook's Scottish Tourist Practical Directory – which had a chapter headed "Is It Safe for Ladies to Join in Highland Tours?"

Within a decade, Cook was running continental trips: he personally conducted a trip from Harwich to Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Heidelberg and Strasbourg that ended up in Paris for the International Exhibition in 1855.

The Leicester-based company became more ambitious, especially after Thomas's son John Mason Cook joined. In 1865 they open their first travel agency on Fleet Street in London and the following year Cook junior led its first trip to America.

The world continued to shrink, and in 1873 Thomas Cook completed his first round-the-globe tour, marketed as "London to London", for 200 guineas. About this time the firm became one of the first to use travellers' cheques: it called them "circular notes".

John took over in 1879 and ran the firm until his death 20 years later, when his three sons inherited Thomas Cook & Son. Its success continued into the 20th century as the skies opened up, with the company chalking up another first when it offered "pleasure trips by air" in 1919.

In 1928 the family sold up to the Belgian owners of the Orient Express, but the second world war saw it become part of the nationalised British Railways. After the war, sales took off again with the era of package holidays. By 1950, more than a million Britons were travelling abroad each year, mainly to France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Thomas Cook returned to private ownership in 1972 and has seen a series of mergers and takeovers. In 2007, it merged with the UK-listed owner of Airtours, MyTravel Group, which nearly collapsed in 2011 but was bailed out by its banks. Now, 178 years on, in an industry its founder would not recognise, Thomas Cook may have come to the end of its journey.

From Britain's greatest tour operator to the brink of collapse – where did it all go wrong for Thomas Cook? - Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: 20 Sep 2019 03:00 AM PDT

This week, Thomas Cook has been battling to pull off a financial rescue plan that would see it taken over by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun. How could the oldest and once greatest name in travel be struggling like this? 

When I started out in journalism nearly 30 years ago, a good deal of its historic reputation was intact. The company was celebrating 150 years since its first trip for a group of 500 teetotallers – to a temperance rally in Loughborough in 1841. I remember tracing the spectacular growth of the company, which soon expanded in Europe and then initiated the first around-the-world cruises. Among the many innovations Thomas Cook introduced were rail passes, hotel vouchers and travellers' cheques.

Estafa complaints filed against travel agency - Yahoo Philippines News

Posted: 21 Sep 2019 09:20 AM PDT

THIRTY persons lodged formal complaints before the Mabolo Police Station in Cebu City against Air You Go Travels Philippines Co., a Cebu City-based travel tour agency.

M/Sgt. Lester Dajao, the station desk officer, said the complainants came from Cebu and Bohol.

"They filed estafa case against the owner of the Air You Go Travels and the agency itself. As of this week, most of the amounts involved range from P20,000 to P200,000. They bought tickets and made a booking but they weren't able to avail themselves of the trip. They already paid online," he said in Cebuano.

Air You Go offers travel and accommodation packages for both local and international destinations.

In its official Facebook page, the Department of Tourism (DOT) posted an advisory against the travel agency on Sept. 9, 2019 after it received several complaints against Air You Go.

"The initial investigation undertaken by the department proved that Air You Go has been fraudulently using the official DOT logo in its website www.airyougotravels.com and on its Facebook account-Air You Go Travels Experience. The DOT wishes to clarify that the above-cited enterprise/ establishment is NOT accredited by the DOT," read a portion of the advisory.

DOT 7 Director Shalimar Tamano said they would also look into the matter.

"We will check on it on Monday," he said in a text message to SunStar Cebu on Saturday, Sept. 21.

In an interview with Superbalita Cebu, Jane, real name withheld, said they were scheduled to travel abroad on the second week of September this year, but their trip was canceled due to the travel agency's internal "problems."

"We already paid the amount last June. We were supposed to travel on Sept. 9, but only three out of the six in our group were issued plane tickets. Also, they were not able to pay for our hotel accommodation though we already gave them our payments," she said.

Jane said they received a text message from the travel agency on the day they were supposed to leave, asking for forgiveness that it could not deliver what it promised.

Jane said the agency's chief executive officer also told her about his differences with his former business partner, whom he blamed for the "mess" the travel agency is currently in.

On Sept. 16, Air You Go posted on its Facebook page that it was able to assist affected clients and was able to process their bookings.

The travel agency also provided schedules for its clients' refunds. The first batch will get theirs on Oct. 4; second batch, Oct. 11; third batch, Oct. 18; and the fourth batch, on Oct. 25.

Air You Go's office in Cebu City is temporarily closed for the "safety" of its employees after they allegedly received several death threats.

"We have transferred to a neutral place for us to better assist our affected clients," reads a portion of the post.

An agent of the travel agency who asked not to be named told SunStar Cebu they could not issue further statements without the approval of their manager. (WBS, BBT of Superbalita Cebu)

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