The combined business will encompass more than 170 brands, divided into four divisions: mainstream, specialist, activity and online destination services.
Mainstream, comprising Thomson, First Choice and TUI Deutschland, will focus on flights, accommodation, car hire, transfers and excursions, as well as mainstream package holidays.
Specialist will be split into three segments: destination, premium and lifestages. It will cover several specialist brands, including Signature Vacations and Hayes&Jarvis, as well as student travel and grey-market services.
The Activity division will incorporate marine, adventure and experiential travel activities, including the Sunsail and Exodus brands, as well as cultural and luxury escorted-travel experiences.
The online destination services division will accommodate the group's branded online-only channels, such as Hotelopia, laterooms.com and TUIhotels.com.
The group is set to focus its investment on its online services, small- to medium-sized acquisitions and niche products. It is also boosting its long-haul travel offering with the purchase of 23 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which will be available in 2009.
TUI Travel will officially start trading on 3 September, under the chairmanship of TUI chief executive Dr Michael Frenzel. As Marketing went to press, both Thomson marketing director Andrew Raynes and Tim Williamson, marketing director at First Choice, were still in their roles.
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