Skift Forum Europe Preview: Thomas Cook CEO on Reinventing Mass-Market Tourism

Thomas Cook is one of the world's oldest travel companies, but some of its recent product launches and offerings have put a new spin on group travel and mass tourism. Thomas Cook Group CEO Peter Fankhauser has said the company must keep pace in an increasingly digital world. Nearly 40 percent of Thomas Cook's UK bookings now take place online, and that mark hit 92 percent in Scandinavian countries last year, the company said. Thomas Cook wants to offer an online booking experience or an in-person one in its stores or over the phone, and that's part of its goal to individualize the mass-market tourism sector depending on customer preferences. Last year, the company announced it would let travelers choose their hotel rooms — the actual room — before departure, and launched a hotel brand to cater to families and an adults-only crowd, dependi