The Tourism Division of TUI AG and First Choice Holidays PLC have merged to create TUI Travel PLC. The new company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is one of the world’s leading leisure travel companies operating in 180 countries worldwide with over 30 million customers from more than 20 countries and 48,000 colleagues across all our businesses.

Commenting on the launch of TUI Travel PLC, Dr. Michael Frenzel said:
“It is an honour and a great pleasure to announce the completion of the merger of TUI AG’s tourism division and First Choice Holidays PLC. This brings together two great leisure travel companies and two strong management teams. A world leader and one of the most profitable companies in the tourism industry have been created.”

Peter Long, Chief Executive, TUI Travel PLC added:
“We at TUI Travel bring together some of the best known brands in leisure travel coupled with expertise and the ability to offer what is probably the widest range of leisure travel experiences of any one leisure travel group. Our Group will cater for those customers who are looking for the traditional sun or snow holiday, where they know they will be looked after from the moment they step on one of our planes, to those who are after adventure, demand luxury or want the independence of booking a flight or hotel only. We plan to grow these businesses and the Group as a whole.”

TUI Travel is a truly international company operating on a world-wide basis on different time zones and with different national cultures. The company has tremendous opportunities ahead of it as it begins to bring together the best practices of both TUI Tourism and First Choice Holidays, blending individual strengths to create a successful business with one vision, culture, and set of values. TUI Travel will be able to achieve so much more than would have been possible if the two companies had remained separate.

For more information about the merger, please visit http://www.tuitravelplc.com/tuitravel/.