The owner of North East independent holiday firm Hays Travel says the company’s latest results vindicate the decision to acquire hundreds of Thomas Cook shops three years ago.
The Sunderland business, launched 42 years ago in a single shop in Seaham, County Durham, became the UK’s largest independent travel firm when it bought 555 high street travel agents from the collapsed tour operator Thomas Cook in 2019 in a £7.8m deal.
Months later, the company’s entire network of shops was forced to close when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, which led to it effectively laying off around 900 of its staff while putting some on half pay, saying the slump in the travel market had led to it losing hundreds of thousands of pounds a day.
