Comparison Report

Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook, American Express

In our era of information, it can be quite easy to think all Travel Agencies and such businesses fall under
the same umbrella, operate the same way and that they’re not much different from each other.
However, that is not that case. In fact, it could not be further away from the truth. The pioneers of
modern day tourism. The giants that paved the way for the tourism industry had completely different
origins, modes of operation and even different in their progression. This is a report that will highlight the
different three giant pioneers of tourism, Cox & Kings, Thomas Cook and American Express.

COX AND KINGS

This company can almost be called ancient. It is the world’s oldest travel company. It is more tham 260
years old. It was all started by a man named Richard Cox who was born in Yorkshire in 1718. During a
war in 1740, he was a clerk who was in charge of organizing provisions and supplies for the British
troops. A few months later he was made the secretary of general Ligonier. He was made a military agent
with the role of providing services, uniforms and weapons for regiments. The company Cox & Co was
founded. In 1765 he goes into a partnership with a London banker. He keeps growing as an agent and
ends the 18th century as the largest British military agent.

Cox dies but his Grandson takes over. He expands operations into India, with more partnerships and
even banking firms. When one of the partners pass away, he inherits their company as well and they
broaden their horizons even more in 1878. In 1905 he set up a shipping company. In 1916, with their
business interests and areas of operation increasingly dovetailing, Cox & Co and Henry S King & Co
combine to create a new company, Cox & Kings. They keep expanding during the upcoming world wars
and in 1935 they organize their first trips. Trips to Germany. It keeps expanding into the giant it is today.

Today

Cox & Kings Ltd. operates its leisure travel business in India and across 17 international locations. In
India, it distributes its products and services through 241 points of presence covering 149 cities
comprising 12 branch sales offices, 143 franchisee sales shops, and 86 agents as of September 2014
Leisure India

• Bharat Deko: Cox & Kings Ltd, through its brand "Bharat Deko", offers its domestic packages. It also
offers a range of products such as religious tours, education tours, spa holidays, budget holidays,
summer and beach retreats, rail holidays etc.
• Inbound: Apart from domestic tourism, Cox & Kings Ltd. also offers various travel services to inbound
tourists, such as, hotel bookings, air/rail ticketing, roundtrip, airport transfer, land arrangements,
excursion planning, event planning, meetings and appointment and private air charter among others.
• Outbound Tours: The company has a wide range of package tours for overseas travellers.

Cox & Kings operates Leisure International through its subsidiaries in

the UK, Dubai, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, United States, the
Netherlands, Singapore and Canada.

Since 2016, Cox & Kings has been consistently adding products that cater to niche audiences. Some of
these include Trip 360º (adventure trips), Getaway Goddess (women-only tours), Tour to Feast(culinary
holidays) and Enable Travel (holidays for the disabled).

THOMAS COOK

In 1841, Thomas Cook started organizing leisure trips in the summer of 1841 when its founder, who gave
his name to the company, organized a successful one-day rail excursion at a shilling a head from
Leicester to Loughborough. During the next three summers Mr Cook arranged a succession of trips,
taking passengers to Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham. Four years later, he organized1 his
first trip abroad, taking a group from Leicester to Calais. This was followed in the 1860s by trips to
Switzerland, Italy, Egypt and America. In the 1860s his son joined him in the business and he conducted
the company’s first American tour in 1866. A few years later he escorted his first party to Egypt and
Palestine.

In 1872, they organized the and lead the world’s first round-the-world tour. In the upcoming decades
they expanded, introduced cruises and Thomas Cook dies in 1892. The company goes on expand even
further introducing air tours, trips through Africa. In 1928 the company was sold by the two surviving
grandsons and during the world war it became state-owned by the British. It’s net-worht exceeds 1
Million in 1965 and kept on expanding. However, in the 2010s due the Arab Spring, Brexxit and failure to
stay competitive, the company went bankrupt and had to liquidate.

It does not operate today

AMERICAN EXPRESS

The American Express Company, also known as Amex, was founded in 1850. The company is best
known for its charge cards, credit cards and traveler’s cheques. In 2016, Amex accounted for 22.9% of
the total dollar volume of credit card transactions in the US with 112.8 million cards issued.

In 1850, Amex began operations as an express mail business in Buffalo, NY. It was a joint merger of the
express companies owned by Henry Wells, William Fargo and John Warren Butterfield. Wells and Fargo
would later split off and form their own company, Wells Fargo.

Amex grew its network by working with “affiliates” that ran other express companies, including Wells
Fargo Pony Express. The possibility of launching a travel charge card first surfaced in 1946 although it
was not actually launched until October 1, 1958. 250,000 cards were issued prior to the launch date. The
card had an annual fee of $6 and were made of paper, with the account number and cardmember’s
name typed. They were the first in the industry to issue embossed plastic cards in 1959.

In April 1992, American Express spun off its former subsidiary, First Data Corp., in an initial public
offering. Today, First Data is the most dominant Acquiring Bank in the credit card processing space.