Thomas Cook’s demise scuttles Fosun’s goal of creating a global leisure empire spanning airline, tour operator, resorts and shows

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Fosun’s ambition to create one of the world’s largest leisure conglomerates – comprising a marquee hotel brand, an airline, a century-old tour operator, and one of the most iconic shows on earth – fell £200 million (US$249 million) short of saving Thomas Cook Group from liquidation.

Thomas Cook, the 178-year-old UK tour operator, was liquidated on Monday after failing to come up with additional money to keep creditors at bay. Its demise left 600,000 holidaying customers in the lurch, forcing the UK government to charter dozens of flights to bring hundreds of thousands of tourists home, in what authorities said was the biggest peacetime repatriation of British subjects.