Tui and First Choice Holidays are to merge their tour operating business to create Europe's largest tour operator.
The deal comes just a month after MyTravel and Thomas Cook agreed to merge their operations and if completed would see Europe's four leading tour operators consolidate into two. The German-based operator, whose brands include Thomson Holidays of the UK and the European Airtours, is to take a 51 per cent stake in a business to be called Tui Travel.