Burmester, who is currently chief of Cook’s Hotels and Resorts business, joined Cook in early 2017 to lead Thomas Cook’s Hotels and Resorts business.

The group said in that time he had “transformed the prospects for Thomas Cook Hotels and Resorts”, which included reshaping the leadership team, securing an alliance with Swiss investment company LMEY to create a hotel fund, and putting a renewed focus on innovation and quality.

Chris Mottershead will now focus on his group-wide role as chief of product and operations. Cook said this would include “streamlining Thomas Cook’s hotel portfolio around a core group of own-branded and select partner hotels and developing Thomas Cook’s in-Destination Services business”.

Cook said Burmester would continue in his role as chief of hotels and resorts alongside the UK role “for the time being, enabling him to maximise the opportunity to increase share of Thomas Cook’s own-brand hotels in the UK market”.

In a statement Thomas Cook Group chief executive Peter Fankhauser said: “I am grateful to Chris for his achievements in the UK over the last three years and look forward to what can be achieved when he puts his attention on such a critical Group-wide role. Ingo’s appointment brings experience of hotels and tour operating to the UK to help further embed our differentiated offer within this important market. I believe these changes position Thomas Cook well to accelerate the execution of strategy for profitable growth and I wish both Chris and Ingo all the best for their new roles."