Co-operative Travel

TCCT Retail Limited

A Co-operative Travel employee
Type	Joint venture
Industry	Retail
Headquarters	Peterborough, United Kingdom
Products	Travel agent, Tour operator
Owners	Thomas Cook Group (70% stake) The Co-operative Group (30% stake)
Website	co-operativetravel.co.uk

The Co-operative Travel is a travel agent in the United Kingdom, run as a joint venture between the Thomas Cook Group, The Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative. TCCT Retail is based at the Peterborough Business Park at Lynch Wood, Peterborough. It is a member of ABTA and holds an ATOL licence; it also acts as an agent for licensed Tour Operators. Customers can earn a share of the profits in proportion to purchases through The Co-op Membership scheme.

The brand is also used by independent retail co-operatives, through their access to The Co-operative brand.

The Co-operative Wholesale Society opened its first Excursion Department in 1905, to work with railways, steamers, and tour operators to get the best rates for co-operative society’s excursions. In 1920, CWS arranged its first overseas excursion and published its first holiday guide. By the 1950s, the CWS Travel Service had become one of the five largest travel agencies in Britain and had begun to organise air travel for co-operative societies and their members.

CWS Travel became known as Travelcare when the Co-operative Wholesale Society merged with Co-operative Retail Services in 2000 to form The Co-operative Group. The Co-operative Travel was formed by the integration of the Manchester-based Travelcare business with United Co-operatives' Co-op Travel subsidiary on the merger of the two societies in 2007.

It was announced in 2010, that Co-op Group Travel 1 Ltd. and Midlands Co-op Travel Ltd. would merge with the retail branches of Thomas Cook. The joint venture does not include the latter's tour operating arm, which remains wholly within the Thomas Cook Group. The new network is 66.5%-owned by Thomas Cook, 30%-owned by The Co-operative Group and 3.5%-owned by Central England Co-operative. Both chains retain their own branding, except for the small number of Thomas Cook's Going Places shops which were rebranded as The Co-operative Travel. The partnership arrangement has helped to retain the heritage and ethics of The Co-operative brand and to ensure the consistency of message.