Customers at more than 400 of Thomas Cook stores in the UK and Northern Ireland will be offered the chance to buy holiday money in the form of GBP, USD or EUR prepaid Cash Passport cards this week. The prepaid currency cards have been developed in conjunction with foreign exchange specialists Travelex, using over thirty years of travel money experience. By the end of the year the number of Thomas Cook branches offering the ATM and Point of Sale (POS) card, specifically designed for overseas use, will have arrived in all of Thomas Cook’s 800 high street stores.

Thomas Cook expects the range of currency cards to fit well with the wide range of holidays it offers worldwide. . For example, consumers load the most onto US dollar cards (average transaction value of £539*) because travelling to America is often a longer and more special trip. The Euro card has a lower average load (£332*), but as the card has a three-year lifecycle, this means that it works equally well for short City breaks or a week-plus holiday.

Commenting on the Cash Passport launch, Melanie Whitehouse, Director, Financial Services UK & Ireland at Thomas Cook UK & Ireland said “We pride ourselves on offering our customers products of the highest standard related to match their travel needs. In addition to getting foreign currency from us, the new prepaid Cash Passport card will appeal to customers who need to carry larger amounts and want peace of mind that the balance can be replaced if the card is lost or stolen.”

In a recent YouGov survey, commissioned by Travelex, 37 per cent of respondents who bought their last foreign exchange from a travel agent said they were likely to use a Cash Passport in the future. With benefits including increased convenience, the opportunity for improved budgeting and better security, the card offers the traveller an easier and more practical way of taking their travel money abroad.

Stephen O’Donovan, Regional Divisional Director of Travelex Outsourcing UK & EMEA added: “Availability of Cash Passport at Thomas Cook’s stores is a further boost to the growth of prepaid cards as a way to carry travel money. Over the summer we saw strong growth in interest and usage among consumers who particularly like the additional convenience of Cash Passport. Adding Thomas Cook to our list of Cash Passport partners in the UK is great news and will help us achieve our ambition to make Cash Passport the travel product of 2008.”

The Cash Passport Visa card is reloadable for three years and is available in EUR USD and GBP.

Travelex is the largest global distributor of prepaid travel cards with global usage growing by more than 30 per cent in 2007.

* ATV figures calculated using May and June 2007 figures for Travel Agent branches

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For more information please contact Laura Zobel, Louise Ellis or Zoe Hatton at Lawton. 02380 828 500, laura.zobel@lawton.co.uk; louise.ellis@lawton.co.uk or zoe.hatton@lawton.co.uk.

Notes to Editors:

About Thomas UK & Ireland

Thomas Cook UK & Ireland is the second largest leisure travel group in the UK with around 19,000 employees. The company operates a fleet of 45 aircraft, has a network of more than 800 high street stores (Thomas Cook and Going Places), leading websites (www.thomascook.com and www.airtours.com), its own television channel Thomas Cook TV (Freeview channel 41, Sky channel 645 Life TV channel 137, Life 24 channel 138 and Life Showcase 139) and some of the world's favourite travel brands.

These brands include Airtours, Club 18-30, Bridge, Cresta, CruiseThomasCook, Direct Holidays, Flexibletrips, flythomascook.com, Latitude, Manos, Neilson, Panorama, Style Holidays, Sunset, Sunworld Holidays, Thomas Cook, Thomas Cook Signature, Thomas Cook Sport and Tradewinds.

The company’s airlines, Thomas Cook Airlines and MyTravel Airways fly from various regional airports to destinations worldwide. From March 2008, the airline will be combined and will operate at Thomas Cook Airlines.

Thomas Cook has a growing financial services business and is a leading seller of foreign exchange. It also offers the Thomas Cook credit card and is the only major travel company to be FSA regulated for its wide range of travel insurance policies. The company also owns White Horse Insurance Ireland Ltd.

Thomas Cook also has a leading publishing division, and currently has more than 150 guidebooks and publications on offer.

Thomas Cook UK & Ireland is part of Thomas Cook Group plc (www.thomascookgroup.com).

Travelex is the world's foreign exchange and business payments specialist. Operating through subsidiaries and branches in four regions: the United Kingdom; Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Americas and Asia Pacific.

As one of the world's leading providers of outsourced travel money to banks, travel agencies and other retailers it provides products including its prepaid travel card Cash Passport to over three million channel customers annually. Through its world-leading automation Travelex offers consumers a full range of delivery channel options including telephone and web-based ordering.

The Cash Passport prepaid card is issued by Travelex Bank N.V, part of the Travelex group of companies.

www.travelex.com | www.cashpassport.com