Peter Long (born 4 June 1952) is an English businessman. He is the chairman of

Countrywide Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estate ...

Early years

Long was born in Malta, as his father was serving in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. He attended Price's Grammar School in

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, following which he went to further education college to qualify as an accountant.

Career

Long began his career as a cost accountant at electronics firm Vernitron.Davidson, Andrew
“The Andrew Davidson interview: Peter Long”
“

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

”, London, 4 October 2009. He then worked in finance at engineering firm

Thomas Tilling The Tilling Group was one of two conglomerates that controlled almost all of the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between World Wars I and II and until nationalisation in 1948. Tilling, together with the other conglomerate, British E ...

before moving into the travel industry. He joined Harry Goodman's International Leisure Group in 1984, rising to chief executive of the tourism division.Walsh, Dominic
“Business big shot: Peter Long”
“

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, London, 20 March 2007. Following this, he set up Sunworld in 1991 with Spanish hotelier partners, and it was eventually sold to the

Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and ...

in June 1996. In November 1996, Long was appointed group managing director of

First Choice Holidays PLC TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it. The compa ...

and became chief executive in September 1999. He was one of the architects of the 2007 consolidation in European tour operating in which First Choice Holidays merged with TUI Tourism (part of

TUI AG TUI AG ( trading as TUI Group) is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known ...

) in September 2007 to create

TUI Travel PLC TUI Travel PLC was a British leisure travel group headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex. The company was formed on 3 September 2007 by the merger of First Choice Holidays PLC and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, which owned 56.4% of it. The compa ...

, one of the largest leisure travel groups in the world. Post-merger, Long grew TUI Travel's profits in sometimes challenging market conditions by offering more differentiated holiday products - hotels and activities that not available through other operators - to its customers. TUI Travel merged with TUI AG in December 2014 to form

TUI Group TUI AG (trading as TUI Group) is a German multinational leisure, travel and tourism company; it is the largest such company in the world. TUI is an acronym for ''Touristik Union International'' ("Tourism Union International"). TUI AG was known a ...

, the world's largest tourism company. Long was joint chief executive of TUI Group, and is deputy chairman of the supervisory board. In October 2013, Long was appointed president of the Family Holiday Association, a UK-based charity which provides short breaks away from home for more than 2,000 disadvantaged families.Davies, Phil
“Tui's Peter Long takes up role as FHA president”
“Travel Weekly, London, 1 October 2013. Long became chairman of

Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

in September 2015. In January 2018, Long who is chairman of

, replaced Alison Platt the CEO, who resigned after the company issued its second profit warning in three months, and its shares fell to an all-time low, while a successor is sought.

Honours and awards

*Medal of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic (; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OYC) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bestowed by the Kingdom of Spain, alongside the Order of Charles III (established in 1771) and ...

for contributions to services to Spanish tourism (2009). *Member of the British Travel Industry Hall of Fame (inducted in 2001). *Odyssey Award from the Institute of Travel and Tourism (received twice, 1998 and 2008).Institute of Travel & Tourism
"Odyssey Award Winners"

Personal life

Long is married, with three sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Peter Living people 1952 births British chief executives British corporate directors British chairpersons of corporations