First Choice Holidays Limited (trading as First Choice) is a British online travel agency and tour operator, headquartered in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a subsidiary of TUI UK, itself a subsidiary of

TUI Group TUI Group is a German leisure, travel and tourism company. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known as Preussag AG until 1997 when the company changed its activities from mining to ...

, and its holidays are sold in TUI stores and websites. It also operates own brand hotels. First Choice Holidays previously traded as a subsidiary of First Choice Group plc until its merger with

TUI Travel plc Tui or TUI may refer to: Places * Tui, Pontevedra, Spain * Tui, Iran, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Tui, North Khorasan, North Khorasan Province, Iran * Tui Province, Burkina Faso * Tuis District, Costa Rica * Tui railway station, New Zealand ...

in 2007. The company was then revived as a brand in 2011 under the

brand umbrella.

History

Travel agents in Gosport High Street (3) - geograph

Operations as a Public Limited Company

The company (originally named ''Owners Abroad'') was founded in 1973 by Neil Scott, a former London taxi driver, ice cream truck operator and movie extra, operating as a

travel agent A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...

. It first listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in 1982 with Scott as Chairman and CEO. In 1987, the group launched Air2000 and in 1990 it acquired Redwing, under the guidance of Howard Klein who had replaced Scott as CEO. The company renamed as ''First Choice'' in 1994. Wigmore Place - geograph

In July 2005, First Choice Holidays purchased the Europe Express group of companies consisting of multi-channel distribution companies including: go-today.com for direct to consumer vacation packages, E.E.I. Travel and Brian Moore International Tours (BMIT) with travel agent distribution, Travel Services Europe (TSE), the contracting division for hotels and travel services throughout Europe.

Merger with TUI Travel plc

In March 2007, the merger of the travel division of TUI AG with First Choice Group plc was announced. The European Commission approved the merger on 4 June 2007, on the condition that the merged company sell Budget Travel in Ireland. The merged company, TUI Travel PLC, began operations in September 2007. TUI and First Choice's in-house airlines,

Thomsonfly Thomsonfly was a British charter and scheduled airline. Thomsonfly was the first stage of TUI AG's plans to expand its business within TUI UK prior to September 2007. After TUI UK merged with First Choice Holidays in September 2007, it beca ...

and

First Choice Airways First Choice Airways Limited was a British charter airline of European tour operator TUI Travel PLC, based in Crawley, England until its merger with Thomsonfly to form Thomson Airways (now TUI Airways) in 2008. It flew to more than 60 destinat ...

, were brought together under the former's

Air Operator's Certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in pla ...

in May 2008, and the merged airline was rebranded as

Thomson Airways Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...

in November 2008. In October 2011 it was announced that under a two-year rebranding programme, the store estate would be rebranded as "Thomson featuring First Choice" to create a single travel agency brand; the First Choice branding and uniform will be phased out, and the First Choice name will be used for

all-inclusive An all-inclusive resort is a holiday resort that includes at a minimum lodging, three meals daily, soft drinks, most alcoholic drinks, gratuities, and possibly other services in the price. Many also offer sports and non-motorized watersports and ot ...

package holidays sold by the combined network. The company confirmed in January 2013 that it had received a proposal from its parent to merge. In May 2013, the chief executive of TUI AG ruled out a merger with TUI Travel. In an about-face in June 2014 the two companies announced they had agreed terms on a merger. The merger was completed and TUI Travel was de-listed from the London Stock Exchange on 17 December 2014. Following the merger, Thomson Airways officially changed its legal name to TUI Airways on 2 October 2017.

Operations

Hotel Brands

References

External links

*https://www.firstchoice.co.uk/ {{Authority control Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom Hospitality companies established in 1973 Transport companies established in 1973 British brands Companies based in Luton TUI Group 1973 establishments in England