THE NEW owner of collapsed travel agent Thomas Cook's 555-shop retail estate Hays Travel will hire almost 1,500 new staff, in a vote of confidence in the under-fire package holiday industry.

Hays said the jobs were on top of the rehiring of 2,330 former Thomas Cook workers. It has so far reopened 450 Thomas Cook branches, which have been rebranded under the Hays Travel moniker.

The move includes bringing in 500 people to deal with foreign currency exchange in the new stores, as well as an apprentice for each of the 737 branches across the country.

"We're further increasing staffing to ensure we have the highest customer service levels across all our stores and our head office functions," said founder John Hays.

"These are fantastic permanent career opportunities for people who want to take a step into an exciting industry where every day is different," he added.

(c) 2019 City A.M., source Newspaper