Following today’s news (Friday 20 September) that Thomas Cook confirms its banks have ordered it to find an additional £200m after the troubled tour operator shares plunge 20%;

Johanna Bonhill-Smith, Travel and Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on the firm’s current crisis;

“Thomas Cook’s current woes are compounded by accelerating consumer preferences to book holidays online with the UK online travel sales market value set to grow by 6.3% between 2019 and 2020 and 8.4% between 2020 and 2021 according to GlobalData forecasts.

‘’The age of the typical package holiday tour operator is changing as increasing numbers of holidaymakers use online sites to put together their holidays themselves. Millennial and independent travellers are also directing more of their holiday spend online where tour operators like Thomas Cook face fierce competition.’’