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The Court Line crisis made the front page of TTG on 21 June 1974 (Credit: TTG Archive)

Harry Goodman, whose International Leisure Group collapsed in 1991, saw himself as Gullick’s successor after building up Intasun from 1974. Thomson also saw off the challenge of Airtours, which grew after 1991 but had to merge with Thomas Cook in 2007. When Thomas Cook went bust in 2019, this created space for Jet2holidays to grow rapidly.


Gullick could observe all this from his home in Spain – not a glitzy villa by the sea, but an estate in Villanueva de los Infantes, south of Madrid, where he has lived since soon after leaving Clarksons and where his funeral was held on Saturday (1 July).


His only activity in the travel industry since then was arranging shooting and bird-watching holidays to Spain, but he travelled widely and became a champion birdwatcher recording over 9,000 species. He was married three times, having three daughters and a son.


He also travelled to Clarksons reunions in London for many years, and many of his managers admired him and went on to success with other companies.

 

'Passion for value'

 

Stewart Wild, who ran the touring division and later worked for American Express’s touring operations, said: “Tom’s passion was value for money for the traveller, and if he has a legacy, it’s that he battled for years to get Provision One abolished and eventually won – for the benefit of all.”


Gullick's press officer at Clarksons, Ian Brereton, added: "Tom was very keen on providing affordable holidays and very pro-publicity, but not publicity about himself. The problem was that Clarksons under-charged on everything, and made only £1 a head in profit."

 

Dave Richardson joined TTG in 1974 and is a travel and tourism journalist and historian of more than 40 years. He is the author of Let’s Go – a History of Package Holidays and Escorted Tours.

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