China’s Fosun, a Shanghai-based company acquired Thomas Cook’s trademark following its collapse in September last year. After about 8 months, Fosun announced that they will turn Thomas Cook into an online lifestyle platform which is to provide direct service to tourists and create a new pattern for tourism.

Thomas Cook, founded in 1841 by an English man who had the idea about the packaged tour, has gradually grown into a world-renowned tourism brand. Its business was all ground in many parts of the world and had many branches in Germany, Spain, India and other countries. Last September, Thomas Cook declared its bankruptcy, which stranded more than 150,000 travelers overseas at that time.

Fosun, which was seen as a potential buyer of Thomas Cook, paid about 11 million pounds in November for the trademark and its two hotel brands – Casa Cook and Cook’s Club. The company said that they will use the 178-year-old brand on a new travel platform in the near future.

On July 19, 2020, Thomas Cook as a brand-new lifestyle platform, was made public. Qian Jiannong, chairman of Fosun Tourism Group said that the platform can offer services including resort and hotel bookings, show tickets and club memberships, which is bound to improve the consumer experience.

“We will continue enhancing our competitiveness guided by the management concept of ‘meticulous operation and international thought’,” Qian said. “Meanwhile, we are trying to expand our market in China, especially in hotspot cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.”

Qian also mentioned that because the summer vacation is coming and travel agencies have been given permission to resume group tours that cross provincial borders, the Thomas Cook app has been downloaded over 110 thousand times in the past two days.