Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments.
TUI Group is a German leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for Touristik Union International. TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to tourism. It is headquartered in Hanover, Germany.
A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via automobile, buses, charter airline, and may also include travel between areas as part of the holiday. Package holidays are a form of product bundling.
A vacation rental is the renting out of a furnished apartment, house, or professionally managed resort-condominium complex on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. The term vacation rental is mainly used in the US. Other terms used are self-catering rental, holiday home, holiday let, cottage holiday and gite.
Thomson Travel Group plc was a business formed by the Thomson Corporation of Canada, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1998. It was acquired by Preussag AG, an industrial and transport conglomerate, in 2000. The group continued until 2002 when it was renamed TUI Northern Europe Limited, a full subsidiary of TUI AG.
First Choice Holidays Limited is a British online travel agency and tour operator, headquartered in Luton, England. It is a subsidiary of TUI UK, itself a subsidiary of TUI Group, and its holidays are sold solely online. It also operates own brand hotels.
Tourism in North Korea is tightly controlled by the North Korean government. All tourism is organized by one of several state-owned tourism bureaus, including Korea International Travel Company (KITC), Korean International Sports Travel Company (KISTC), Korean International Taekwondo Tourism Company (KITTC) and Korean International Youth Travel Company (KIYTC). The majority of tourists are Chinese nationals: one 2019 estimate indicated that up to 120,000 Chinese tourists had visited North Korea in the previous year, compared to fewer than 5,000 from Western countries.
Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and MyTravel Group until 23 September 2019, when it went into compulsory liquidation. The group operated as a tour operator and airline, and also operated travel agencies in Europe. At the time of the group's collapse, approximately 21,000 worldwide employees were left without jobs and 600,000 customers were left abroad, triggering the UK's largest peacetime repatriation.
Kuoni Travel is a tourism company, operating various services including charter and scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, and hotels in destinations around the world across nine different geographic regions.
TUI Airways Limited is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Primera Air Scandinavia A/S, was a Danish airline owned by Primera Travel Group. It provided scheduled and charter passenger services from Northern Europe to more than 40 destinations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North America. It ceased operations on 1 October 2018.
CV Villas is a London-based travel agency for villas in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey, Morocco, Florida, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean. Today, it is a specialist tour operator, selling villa holidays including flights, car hire and experiences directly to clients and through independent travel agents. The company has over 800 lodgings in the world.
The Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO), operating as AITO – The Specialist Travel Association, is a British-based travel industry trade group established in 1976 that represents around 120 specialist and independent tour operators. Members of AITO operate in over 170 countries including the UK, with activities spanning a range of interests including adventure, city break, culture, fly drive, luxury, safaris and sports.
TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it. The company operated in 180 countries and claimed 30 million customers.
Newmarket Holidays, part of The Newmarket Group, is a British tour operator based in Wallington, Greater London, providing escorted holidays, resort-based stays and event-based tours to destinations throughout the UK, in Europe and to worldwide destinations. The group employs 180 staff at its Surrey head office.
Apple Leisure Group (ALG) is an American travel and hospitality conglomerate focused on packaged travel and resort/brand management in Mexico, the Caribbean, Hispanic America, Europe, and the Middle East. It is the parent corporation of the resort and brand management company AMResorts. ALG also oversees fourteen subsidiaries, including tour operators Apple Vacations and Travel Impressions, online travel agency CheapCaribbean.com, and destination management company AMStar DMC. Its headquarters are in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. It is a subsidiary of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. As of October 2019, ALG is also the largest seller of charter flights, providing transport to 3.2 million passengers annually from the United States to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Caribbean.
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd. is an Indian travel agency, headquartered in Mumbai, India, providing travel services including Foreign Exchange, International and Domestic Holidays, Visas, Passports, Travel Insurance and MICE. Founded in 1881 by Thomas Cook, the founder of the now defunct British brand Thomas Cook & Son, who established its first office in India and eventually extended to over 233 locations, in 94 cities across India, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Thomas Cook India is a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Fairbridge Capital (Mauritius) Limited, and its controlled affiliates which holds 67.63% of the company.
Transun is an independent tour operator established in 1982 and based in the UK.
Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country by area and the largest landlocked country. Tourism is not a major component of the economy. As of 2014, tourism has accounted for 0.3% of Kazakhstan GDP, but the government had plans to increase it to 3% by 2020.
SOTC Travel Limited, formerly SOTC Travel Private Ltd as well as Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt. Ltd., is a step-down subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Group; held through two companies, its Indian listed subsidiary, Thomas Cook (India) Limited (TCIL) and TCIL's subsidiary Travel Corporation (India) Ltd. Established in 1949, it is a travel and tourism company active across travel segments like Leisure Travel, Business Travel, Destination Management Services and Distribution Visa Marketing Services.
