ABSTRACT
The new century, however, was characterized by the largest players in Germany and the UK purchasing smaller, weaker rivals but by consolidation among the largest players themselves, which eventually resulted in the emergence of two dominant groups: TUI and Thomas Cook. Like TUI, Thomas Cook has had a number of ownership changes. TUI in its present form was formed at that time as it merged with UK-based First Choice travel, as was Thomas Cook Group. A few large integrated European-based groups emerged of which TUI and Thomas Cook were the largest, but other large European groups such as Kuoni and Globus based in Switzerland and France's Club Med also emerged. While Thomas Cook was suffering, its larger rival TUI, though not soaring, was certainly doing better. The underlying problem faced by both Thomas Cook and TUI was that recession across its major European markets had taken its toll, and some important core destinations had become unattractive due to political instability.
