Cosmos holidays will no longer sell its travel products to consumers after deciding to focus 100% on the trade industry. Previously, 35% of Cosmos sales have come direct from consumers, but these will now be sold under the Monarch brand with the creation of Monarch Holidays, Monarch Hotels and Monarch Flights. The decision by Cosmos means that one the longest serving operators will no longer have a high street presence. Stuart Jackson, product and commercial director for Cosmos and MD of somewhere2stay said:
“We believe this makes us the first operator to have a dedicated trade brand.
“Further to a lot of consultation with our retail partners it was felt that the Cosmos brand should be retained so that agents could have the opportunity to dominate a fully bonded brand which for nearly 50 years has been highly respected and which would in effect allow them to ‘own’ the Cosmos customer going forward.”
Jackson added that the organisation now no longer viewed itself as a tour operator, but as a ‘travel provider’ from which Monarch would offer more flexible products, instead of the more traditional pre-packaged product. Stuart Jackson revealed that the firm consulted some of the biggest names in the travel industry before making the decision, having spoken to representatives from Thomas Cook and Co-op Travel.
