T RAVEL & T OURISM
T HOMAS C OOK
V OLUME 1, I SSUE 1
T HE
F EBURARY 2008
MAN WHO INVENTED TOURISM
Cook's idea to offer excursions came to him
while waiting for the
stagecoach on the London
Road at Kibworth. With
the opening of the extended Midland Counties
Railway, he arranged to
take a group of 570 temperance campaigners
from Leicester to a rally
in Loughborough, eleven
miles away. On 5 July
1841, Thomas Cook arranged for the rail company to charge one shilling per person that included rail tickets and
food for this train journey. Cook was paid a
share of the fares actually
charged to the passengers, as the railway tick-
ets, being legal contracts
between company and
passenger, could not have
been issued at his own
price. During the following three summers he
planned and conducted
outings for temperance
societies and Sundayschool children. In 1844
the Midland Counties
Railway Company agreed
to make a permanent arrangement with him provided he found the passengers. This success led
him to start his own business running rail excursions for pleasure, taking
a percentage of the railway tickets. On 4 August
1845 he arranged accommodation for a party to
travel from Leicester to
Liverpool. In 1846, he
took 350 people from
Leicester on a tour of
Scotland, however his
lack of commercial ability
led him to bankruptcy.
He persisted and had success when he claimed that
he arranged for over
165,000 people to attend
the Great Exhibition in
London. Four years later,
he planned his first excursion abroad, when he
took a group from Leicester to Calais to coincide
with the Paris Exhibition.
The following year he
started his 'grand circular
tours' of Europe. During
the 1860s he took parties
to Switzerland, Italy,
Egypt and United States.
Cook established
'inclusive independent
travel', whereby the traveler went independently
but his agency charged for
travel, food and accommodation for a fixed period over any chosen
route. Such was his success that the Scottish railway companies withdrew
their support between
1862 and 1863 to try the
excursion business for
themselves.
Thomas Cook
S PECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST :
•
Born in the U.K.
•
1808 — 1892
•
Organized the first
ever excursions.
T HOMAS C OOK
P AGE 2
With John A Mason Cook,
he formed a partnership
and renamed the travel
agency as Thomas Cook and
Son. They acquired business premises on Fleet
Street, London. By this
time, Cook had stopped
personal tours and became
an agent for foreign or domestic travel. The office
also contained a shop which
sold essential travel accessories including guide
books, luggage, telescopes
and footwear. Thomas saw
his venture as both religious and social service; his
son provided the commercial expertise that allowed
the company to expand. In
accordance with his beliefs,
he and his wife also ran a
small temperance hotel
above the office. Their
business model was refined
by the introduction of the
'hotel coupon' in 1866.
Detachable coupons in a
counterfoil book were issued to the traveller. These
were valid for either a restaurant meal or an overnight hotel stay provided
they were on Cook's list.
In 1865, the agency organised tours of the United
States, picking up passengers from several departure
points. John Mason Cook
lead the excursion which
included tours of several
Civil War battlefields. A
brief but bitter partnership
was formed with an American businessman in 1871
called Cook, Son and Jenkins;
however after an acrimonious split the agency reverted back to its original
name. A round the world
tour started in 1872, which
for 200 guineas, included a
steamship across the Atlantic, a stage coach across
America, a paddle steamer
to Japan, and an overland
journey across China and
India, lasting 222 days.
In 1874, Thomas Cook
introduced 'circular notes',
a product that later became
better known by American
Express's brand, 'traveller's
cheques'.[1]
Questions:
main customers?
1.Where did Thomas Cook
take his first group of travelers?
4. Although Cook did have
some success in his early
years he eventually went
bankrupt. What led to his
success years later?
6. After renaming the company Thomas Cook and
Son and relocating to Fleet
Street what did they focus
their business on?
2. What did Thomas
Cook’s first excursion include?
3. During the next three
years who were Cook’s
5. Describe what the term
“Inclusive independent
travel” meant.
7. What did Cook introduce in 1866?
8. What is a “circular
note”?