Fosun is poised to revive T8k8 loginhomas Cook travel brand on internet

One of the best-known names to have vanished from the British high street in recent years could be about to undergo a revival in a new form, after reports that the Chinese owners of the Thomas Cook travel brand plan to relaunch it as an online-only operation.

Thomas Cook, which had shops, hotels and an airline, went out of business in September 2019, after 179 years of operating, and left more than 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded overseas in need of repatriation.

Its biggest shareholder was the Fosun conglomerate, which, according to the company website, has a mission "to provide high-quality products and services for families around the world in health, happiness and wealth businesses", and was ranked at 371 in 2020 Forbes Global 2000 List.

Last November, following the collapse, Fosun paid 11 million pounds ($14.2 million) for the Thomas Cook brand, including trademarks and domain and social media names, and in January, before the novel coronavirus pandemic was such a global concern, Travel Weekly reported that Fosun had approached several of the company's former executives with an eye on a relaunch.

Several months later, after a particularly gruelling summer for the global travel industry, it is being reported that Fosun is keen to get the new-look online company in business as soon as possible to cash in on early demand for holidays in summer 2021.

Fosun, which has other interests in the global travel market including the Club Med resorts chain, has yet to issue any formal comment, but a source told the BBC the company was keen to be operational by Christmas, although any return to business will require approval from the Civil Aviation Authority.

" (Christmas) is when people's thoughts turn to summer holidays, and there is likely to be a lot of pent-up demand because of this year's coronavirus cancellations," the source added.

Thomas Cook's main sales market was Spain, which is traditionally popular with British tourists. But which has been the subject of travel restrictions this year.

The problems that brought the company down occurred before novel coronavirus was even known about, but since then restrictions on movement and a reduced public demand for travel have seen the wider tourism sector and several airlines suffer serious problems.

British regional airline Flybe, which had existing money issues, went out of business as early as March, and since then many other carriers have floundered, with the most high-profile being Virgin Australia, which laid off one-third of its staff members and entered voluntary administration in April, before being relaunched on a smaller scale.

One of Thomas Cook's biggest travel market rivals, TUI, was forced to seek help from the German government, and the Hays group, which bought many former Thomas Cook outlets, has also announced significant job losses.