As the travel industry consists of numerous sectors and divisions, companies within the industry vary greatly in their activities and the segments of the market they are involved in. Two of these companies, namely Apple Vacations and Thomas Cook AG, are both leaders in their respective fields.Apple Vacations, a Pennsylvania corporation opened in 1969, is a major vacation tour operator to Mexico, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Bahamas, Bermuda, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean, with offices in Pennsylvania, Illinois and California.Correspondingly, Thomas Cook AG is an international leisure group, created in 2000 by C&N Touristic's purchase of Britain's Thomas Cook Holdings Ltd., with roots tracing back to 1841. The company is represented in the sales markets of Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Egypt, India and Canada, providing products and services in most market segments, including airlines, hotels, tour operators, travel and incoming agencies.In spite of the obvious differences between Apple Vacations and Thomas Cook AG, they are very much alike in several ways, taking into account their scope of operations, scale and markets. To begin with, during their years of operation, both companies have grown to be among the most successful in their own fields. While Apple Vacations is currently one of the largest tour operators in America, Thomas Cook AG is the third largest integrated tourism group in the world, serving some 14 million customers.Additionally, both corporations have a large workforce, employed in a wide array of services, with reference to each company's market of operations. On the one hand, Apple Vacations has a staff of over 1,000 employees, operating scheduled and charter flights from over 25 of America's major population centers, in addition to significantly expanding its daily scheduled air service vacation packages out of many gateway cities across the country to Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean and ski packages to Colorado, Salt Lake City and Whistler.Thomas Cook AG, on the other hand, encompasses 32 tour operators and around 3,600 travel agencies, selling the group's products worldwide, as well as a portfolio of 76,000 controlled hotel beds, a fleet of 87 aircraft and a workforce numbering some 28,000. Its services also include travel shops and charter airlines.Evidently, the scale of operations of both Apple Vacations and Thomas Cook AG in their respective markets, has allowed them to realize economy of scale, affording them a strong advantage over competition and in turn benefiting their clients. Because of the large volume of business provided to many resorts by Apple Vacations, they currently have excellent buying power, enabling them to negotiate the best possible airfare, hotel rates and transfer rates, which are translated into attractive selling prices, better rooms and overall greater value for their clients.Similarly, Thomas Cook AG's...