Thomson Holidays is a UK
based travel operator and
part of TUI Travel PLC. The
company (originally named
Thomson Tour Operations, and
renamed in 1997) was founded
as part of the Thomson
Travel Group in 1965
following the acquisition of
three package holiday travel
agencies and the airline
Britannia Airways by Roy
Thomson. The Thomson Travel
Group was owned by the
Thomson Corporation of
Canada until it was floated
on the London Stock Exchange
in 1998.
After the intense
price-cutting rivalries of
the early 1970s, Thomson
restructured the company and
in 1972 acquired Lunn Poly,
the largest chain of travel
agents in the United
Kingdom. The name Lunn Poly
was kept until 2004, when
TUI UK rebranded as Thomson
Holidays in order to create
a "powerbrand". The company
insisted that there were no
plans to rebrand Lunn Poly.
The company are now taking
more of their business to
the web but still hold a big
stake in the high street.
Thomson Travel Group was
floated on the London Stock
Exchange in May 1998 with a
valuation of £1.7 billion.
In 2000, TTG was acquired by
Preussag AG, an industrial
and transportation
conglomerate. Preussag was
renamed TUI AG on July 1,
2002 and Thomson Travel
became TUI UK. Thomson
Holidays and Britannia
Airways (rebranded
Thomsonfly) are now
subsidiaries of that group,
part of TUI Travel PLC.
