TUI Story 2

There’s a scene in Toy Story 2 (the one with Big Al’s Toy Barn) where Andy’s mum has a garage sale on the lawn at the front of the house. Boxes full of once cherished toys are laid out on a table ready to be sold to the highest bidder.

It was this scene that jumped into my mind when Tui announced the sale of all of its specialist holiday businesses last week. Will Waggott has gathered together all of Peter Long’s precious toys and put them on show at the end of the drive for any passers-by to pick over.

Tui, like Andy’s mum, knows that the special toys need to be kept, even if it’s just for old times’ sake. So Woody and Buzz (Crystal and Lakes & Mountains) have been taken inside and popped back under the bed, whilst Wheezy, Slinky and Hamm have been boxed together in a job lot with all of the other (now unloved) toys.

But when the trestle table has fifty toys on it, it’s inevitable that there will be a Big Al on the scene trying to separate the collectors’ items from the Slinkies. Maybe he can persuade Will to do him a deal - if not he’ll need to buy the whole box and take on the job of returning the rest of the toys back to their former glory (although anyone who’s ever tried to fix a broken Slinky will realise it’s no easy task!)

It’s only been eight years since the merger of Thomson and First Choice was hailed as the ‘synergistic’ coming together of Thomson’s differentiated mainstream product with First Choice’s growing portfolio of specialist businesses. No hint then that the future would gravitate towards volume component ownership - hotels, airlines, cruise ships and destination services - little space in that world for niche specialist businesses which need to be managed with a light touch; nurtured and developed over time. Tui’s recently announced global brand strategy and their ownership of niche businesses go together like a horse and marriage.

In truth, this is less of a garage sale, more of a ‘new to you’ sale. Specialist Holidays Group (I can’t bring myself to call it Travelopia just yet) through a series of acquisitions under different businesses, each with their own strategies, has ended up with a collection of not too shabby brands. When they were shiny new toys they were all good enough to be on someone’s Christmas list, but they’ve been left on the shelf for too long, gathering dust and neglected. With a new kid to treasure them they could once again be as good as new.

Tui may be all grown up now and the old toys are being sold, but you know how it works; the sequel will be along soon enough: Tui Story 3 – the one where Mr Potato Head remembers the benefits of an asset light portfolio business model and sets out to find his old friends!