Thomson Travel, acquired by Germany's Preussag acquired last year for £1.8bn, will today embark on a three-year project to rebrand its operations under the name "World of TUI".

None of Thomson's existing brands, which include Thomson Holidays, Crystal Holidays, Simply Travel, Headwater Travel, Lunn Poly and Britannia Airways, will change their names.

However, the new logo will be emblazoned across shop fronts, aircraft tailfins and holiday brochures in a move intended to consolidate Preussag's tourism activities.

Most customers will have their first contact with the new master brand this autumn when the 2002 summer brochures are published, although the first aircraft to carry the new logo arrives in the UK today.

Charles Gurassa, chief executive of Thomson Travel Group, said the aim was to create a tourism master brand. Optimistically, Gurassa claimed that "It's a bit like the Nike swoosh."

The brand name and logo is based on the German travel group TUI which stands for Touristik Union International. The rebranding exercise across Europe will cost Preussag £57m over the next three years.

Preussag's rebranding move came as Europe's biggest leisure group and tour operator reported a 1.5 per cent rise in net profit for the first six months to 134m euros compared with a year earlier on sales up 11 per cent to 10.9bn euros.

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