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Retail & Consumer

Hays Travel takes 700 staff to luxury resort following Thomas Cook deal

Sunderland firm's annual managers' conference has grown in size following deal to save more than 2,000 jobs

Four plane loads of Hays Travel employees, including many who had lost their jobs at Thomas Cook, head off to join the biggest ever annual conference of 700 delegates in Antalya, Turkey.(Image: North News & Pictures Ltd)

Hays Travel has flown more than 700 of its staff to a luxury resort in Turkey after its deal to buy former Thomas Cook travel agents led to its largest ever annual conference.

The Sunderland firm, which saved more than 550 shops and 2,000 jobs last month, chartered planes from Newcastle, Manchester and Stansted airports to take hundreds of branch managers and suppliers to Antalya for the company’s 30th annual retail managers’ conference.

The conference has grown in size after Hays’ acquisition of the former Thomas Cook retail estate, which has seen 450 shops re-opened and 2,000 people who had lost their jobs taken on to work at Hays.

The firm now employs more than 4,000 people and is recruiting for more.

Chief executive John Hays and his wife Irene, the company chair, were on the flights in uniform for the day, serving snacks to some of their staff.

Mrs Hays said: “We always make sure our managers have fun at the conference as they get together from all over the country.

“They pack in three full days with some fantastic speakers and workshops and they end up with a unique insight into the latest developments in the travel industry, and masses of information to take back to their branches.

John Hays, managing director, Hays Travel, joins almost 700 employees, including many who had lost their jobs at Thomas Cook, on a flight from Newcastle Airport heading for the biggest annual conference yet, in Antalya, Turkey.(Image: North News & Pictures )

“This year, we will have the added bonus of getting to know our new colleagues. We’ll also take the chance to recognise and celebrate all the hard work everyone has put in this year, and to thank those from Thomas Cook who joined so quickly and moved mountains to help us get their shops back up and running.