The powerful Chinese group Fosun Tourism Group, owner of Club Medmade a huge impact on the world market tourism. But it was not because it bought some giant of the sector, but because has shed its iconic Thomas Cook brandwhich had been purchased in 2019 with the intention of rehabilitating the travel agency founded in 1841 in England after its bankruptcy.
Thomas Cook’s buyer is also a major group in the tourism sector, although far from the relevance of Fosun. It is the travel platform eSkay, based in Katowice, Poland, where it was founded.
This operation involves The return of Thomas Cook to Western handsalthough strictly speaking eSkay’s area of influence is Eastern Europe. In fact, the Polish firm admitted that the purchase of the English travel agency opens the doors to one of “the most developed markets in Western Europe.”
Although the figure paid by eSkay was not officially reported, it is worth knowing as background that Fosun paid 12 million euros in November 2019 by Thomas Cook, in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings managed by creditor banks.
“The synergy of Thomas Cook’s brand heritage with our technology will boost Thomas Cook’s growth and allow us to strengthen eSky’s position in Western Europe. This acquisition is part of our strategy to diversify from selling only flights to offering vacation packages in our current markets of Europe and Latin America, as well as further expanding into Western Europe,” explained Ukasz Habaj, CEO of eSky Group.
“The closing of this transaction will inject significant financing into our business.” as we rebuild the brand and accelerate growth “By combining the strength of our dynamic package technology and holiday expertise with eSky’s flight inventory, performance marketing and technical strength, we are confident that we will create a formidable European travel business,” added Alan French, CEO of Thomas Cook Tourism.
A technological giant in the tourism industry
Founded in 2004, eSky Group is the dominant travel platform in the Central and Eastern European region, operating the eSky and eDestinations brands in over 50 countries across Europe, the Americas and Africa. It has served over 150 million customers, with access to over 550 airlines and 1.3 million hotels. eSky Group’s profits in 2023 exceeded €19 billion, up 42% year-on-year.
Since 2022, eSky has invested in city break and holiday packages, which are the cornerstone of the transformation of the initial business as a flight platform into a virtual tour operator. It has more than 800 employees, including an internal software development team of over 190 people.
Part of the capital is owned by the MCI fund. Senior investment partner Michal Górecki said the transaction is part of “the company’s strategy to grow the dynamic package segment and expand globally.”
For the moment it was agreed that Thomas Cook will continue to operate under its brand image and that current CEO Alan French will continue to lead the business. “The completion of this transaction will inject significant funding into our business as we rebuild the brand and accelerate the growth of this company,” said the executive.
Source: Ambito
