One of the most famous names in the travel industry has returned - a year after its collapse sparked a massive repatriation effort.

Thomas Cook's 178 years of trading ended last September with the closure of high street travel shops and leaving 150,000 holidaymakers abroad.

But Chinese firm Fosun, who run Club Med and bought Thomas Cook's brand and online assets for £11million, have revived the name in an online business.

The new website has been live for several days but has started offering bookings after the company was granted a licence by Atol, the protection body operated by the Civil Aviation Authority.

UK chief executive Alan French said: "We are launching now clearly aware of the short-term challenges posed by the pandemic.

"We know Brits are keen to travel but feel nervous about safety and any changes to government rules on quarantine.

"We are only selling destinations on the travel corridor list and all the hotels are flexible. We won't charge customers a fee to change their holidays if government rules change."

The new company will concentrate on sales and will not run the hotels and aircraft like its predecessor.

It employs 50 people working remotely - compared with 9,000 in the Uk with 560 shops for the previous company - and aims to sell holidays for up to 50,000 people annually.