About us

History

1841 Thomas Cook organises his first excursion, a rail journey from Leicester to a temperance meeting in Loughborough. On Monday 5 July a special train carries some 500 passengers a distance of 12 miles and back for one shilling.
1845 Thomas Cook conducts his first trip for profit. It is a railway journey to Liverpool from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby. Fares are 15/- first class and 10/- second class, with a supplementary charge for travelling by special steamer to North Wales.
1855 Thomas Cook's first continental tour. He personally conducts two parties from Harwich to Antwerp, then on to
Brussels, Cologne, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Strasbourg and, finally, to Paris for the International Exhibition.
1865 Thomas Cook opens his first high-street shop in Fleet Street, London, the upper floor of which is used as a Temperance Boarding House.
1869 Thomas Cook escorts his first party to Egypt and Palestine.
1872/73Thomas Cook organises and leads the first round-the-world tour. He is away from home for 222 days and covers
more than 25,000 miles.
1873 Cook's Continental Time Tables & Tourist's Handbook (today known as the European Rail Timetable) is published for the first time.
1874 Cook's Circular Note, an early form of the traveller's cheque, is launched in New York.
1874 Thomas Cook publishes his first guidebook, Cook's Tourists' Guide to Switzerland.
1878 Thomas Cook establishes a distinct "Foreign Banking and Money Exchange" department.
1886 John Mason Cook (son of Thomas) launches his new fleet of luxurious Nile steamers.
1919 Thomas Cook & Son is the first travel agent to advertise pleasure trips by air.
1927 Thomas Cook & Son Ltd organises the first personally-conducted air tour - from New York to Chicago for the Dempsey-Tunney heavyweight boxing contest.
1928 Frank and Ernest Cook, the two surviving grandsons of Thomas Cook (Bert having died in 1914), retire, selling the family business to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens.
1939 Holidays by air on specially chartered aircraft to the French Riviera are
included in Cook's summer brochure
for the first time.
1948 Thomas Cook & Son Ltd becomes state-owned under the British Transport Holding Company.
1972 Thomas Cook is privatised and bought by a consortium of Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association.
1977 Thomas Cook opens its new administrative headquarters at Thorpe Wood in Peterborough.
1996 Thomas Cook acquires Sunworld, the UK and Ireland's fourth largest short-haul tour operator, and Time Off, the specialist European city breaks tour operator.
1997 Thomas Cook On-Line is launched, making Thomas Cook the first UK retail travel agency to offer customers a way to buy holidays, foreign currency, traveller's cheques and guidebooks over the Internet.
2001 2001 Thomas Cook is acquired by C&N Touristic AG, which changes its name
to Thomas Cook AG and launches a
new logo.
2003 Thomas Cook Airlines is officially launched in the UK.
2007 Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc merge to form Thomas Cook Group plc, listing on the London Stock Exchange. Arcandor AG, part owner of C&N Touristic AG, retain 52.8% of the shares.
2008 Thomas Cook Group acquires 74.9% of the issued share capital in Thomas Cook India Limited and 100% of Thomas Cook branded businesses in Egypt, as well as licences for the Thomas Cook brand in a total of 15 Middle East countries.
2008 Thomas Cook Group announces the acquisition of Canada's TriWest Travel Holdings, French tour operator Jet Tours, and UK independent travel companies Hotels 4 U, Gold Medal and Elegant Resorts.
2009 Arcandor AG's remaining shares in Thomas Cook Group are placed in the stock market, resulting in 100% of the Group's shares being freely floated on the London Stock Exchange.
2010 Thomas Cook Group acquires 100% of Think W3, owner of Essential Travel, one of the leading online providers of travel-related products. In addition, the Group agreed to acquire 100% of Öger Tours, a leading German tour operator specialising in package holidays to Turkey.