Thomas Cook U.K. Closes 195 Locations, Lays Off 2,500 Employees

Thomas Cook, the venerable British travel agency group, said it is laying off employees and closing some travel agency offices in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It said it has entered a 90-day “consultation process” with a number of its U.K. employees on the next phase of the three-year program to transform its operations.

Thomas Cook said the need to evolve its U.K. business has been a clearly stated goal and was accelerated by the appointment of Peter Fankhauser, as U.K. CEO last year. The company said its U.K. business needs to reduce cost to ensure back-office costs are not passed on to customers and that the necessary operational changes are made to reflect evolving customer needs and purchasing requirements.

Thomas Cook currently has 1,069 stores in the U.K., making it the largest travel retailer. A number of these stores do not meet the performance targets of the business, and are in communities where Thomas Cook has more than one retail outlet, the company said.

Thomas Cook said it would close 195 stores on “high streets” (a term for main street locations) while retaining 874 of such outlets. “We are also proposing a number of changes to the management of core stores and certain roles within the large store network,” the company said. It also will reduce administrative and managerial staff in Peterborough and Preston, whilst proposing the closure of its Accrington office. Thomas Cook currently employees 15,500 people in the U.K. and it is anticipated that approximately 2,500 employees will be laid off if the proposed changes go ahead.

“It is never easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to shape the business effectively and ensure that, when they book their holiday with us, our administrative costs are as low as possible,” said Fankhauser. “As we improve and develop our online capabilities, maintaining a strong presence on the High Street is an important part of our omni-channel strategy. Even after these changes we will still have one of the largest retail networks in U.K. travel.”
Fankhauser said it was essential that Thomas Cook operate with the right number of people as it moves forward into the next era for the company in order to meet the future needs of its customers more effectively. “These proposals will mean a stronger Thomas Cook that continues to be a major employer in the U.K dedicated to providing excellent holiday experiences to our 23 million customers,” he said. “We are in consultation with our unions and employee representative bodies to minimize the impact of these changes and I am speaking personally to all employees today to provide information and support through this period of consultation.”

Source: Travel Pulse, http://www.travelpulse.com/thomas-cook-uk-closes-195-locations-lays-off-2500-employees.html