Up to 2,500 jobs saved as Hays Travel buys 555 Thomas Cook stores


Maldives
PUBLISHED October 09, 2019

Hays Travel, an independent British travel agent, said on Wednesday that it had bought all 555 stores of Thomas Cook, one of the worlds oldest tour companies, which collapsed last month. Hays has already recruited 595 former Thomas Cook staff and managing director John Hays said he will welcome "as many as possible".

"More than 25 percent of all former Thomas Cook retail employees who have been hired as a result of the deal, which is expected to save up to 2,500 jobs" Hays said in a statement. The move will come as a major relief to many who found themselves unemployed overnight after Thomas Cooks disintegration.

He confirmed the Thomas Cook brand would be wiped from the high street as its shops are re branded with the Hays name.

Meanwhile, the company will consider the future of under-performing shops in places where Hays and Thomas Cook sites overlap. It has already approached around 140 landlords but the deal guarantees landlords will get paid until the end of December.

"Thomas Cook was a much-loved brand and a pillar of the U.K. and the global travel industry," Irene Hays, the chairwoman of Hays Travel Group, said in the statement. "We will build on the good things Thomas Cook had not least its people and that will put us in even better stead for the future."

The 178 year old Thomas Cook folded on September 23 after failing to secure a last-minute rescue deal. The news left around 150,000 passengers stranded abroad, the last of whom were returned to UK. 

"This is an extremely positive outcome, and we are delighted to have secured this agreement," said Jim Tucker, a KPMG partner who was appointed joint special manager of Thomas Cooks retail division after the failure. 

John Hays opened the first branch of his travel company at the back of his mothers childrenswear shop in Seaham, County Durham, in 1980, recording sales of £812 in the first year. Since then the business has expanded across the UK, employing about 1,900 staff with a turnover of more than £1bn last year. To mark the £1bn milestone the company shared a £1m pot with its employees, who each received £100 for every year they had worked at the company.

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