Travel firm TUI UK & Ireland (TUI UK), the parent company of Thomson and First Choice, is focusing on developing its future business leaders through the launch of a new graduate development scheme this October.

The firm is seeking 10 graduates to work across the business over the course of 15 months. The scheme, the first to be launched since the merger between Thomson and First Choice in 2007, will see the graduates spend time in each of the four core areas of the business: airline, the distribution division (which looks after retail and e-commerce), the customer division (encompassing overseas and marketing) and the commercial division (which covers yield, product and cruise).

Sue Chatfield, head of HR services, says: “This programme brings something unique to the graduate job market. It’s a leadership programme, where the graduates will get solid business experience but in the travel sector rather than in finance or law.           

“The travel industry is fast-paced and exciting, and through rotating around different areas of the business both in the UK and overseas the graduates will be able to experience that.”