"Intourist" will go to the Chinese

The Chinese company Fosun Tourism Group will now own the Russian Intourist, according to a press release from the current owner of the British tour operator Thomas Cook Group. Thomas Cook itself bought Intourist from AFK Sistema in 2018.

Under the terms of the announced deal, the Chinese company will acquire a majority stake in Thomas Cook's travel division, as well as a minority stake in its subsidiary airline. For this, Fosun Tourism will pay $940 million. Fosun was already a large (18%) shareholder of Thomas Cook, the reorganization with its participation should attract wealthy Chinese tourists.

Quote. “While this is not the result you would want from shareholders, the proposal (Fosun Tourism Group) is a pragmatic and responsible decision that will secure the future of Thomas Cook for our customers and our employees,” said CEO Peter Fankhauser.

Thomas Cook is the oldest travel company in the world (founded in 1841), but is now unprofitable: in March 2019, Thomas Cooks debt was about $2.4 billion. A quarter of tours remain unsold this summer. At the same time, the tourism division of Thomas Cook remains one of the largest in the world: it annually serves 11 million tourists with the help of 21,000 employees.

• In addition to Intourist, a British company in Russia bought the tour operator Biblio Globus. The purchase could cost her $150 million in total, but it has yet to be certified.
• Chinese companies are actively absorbing Western firms in the tourism sector. For example, Chinese online travel company Ctrip.com International bought Scotland-based flight search service Skyscanner for $1.74 billion in 2016.