THE effect of the merger of travel giants Thomas Cook and MyTravel - one of the biggest travel deals in years - on the Northern Ireland travel industry and the local travelling public is expected to be minimal.

Best estimates are that there will be a reduced number of brands on sale in the Province, and perhaps a very small number of shop closures here.

Indeed, in recent years Thomas Cook has had no direct flights from the Northern Ireland.

And while there will be an unspecified level of redundancies among the combined staff of the two companies of 19,000 nationally, threatened job losses locally are expected to be small.

While the deal has yet to gain approval by the UK Competition Commission and the European Union, MyTravel UK Head John Bloodworth said: "We think the competitive pressure with all the low cost carriers and dynamic packaging in the UK has really put us in a good position."

Bosses of Thomas Cook and MyTravel are confident their merger plans will not be blown off course by regulatory intervention.

Combining Thomas Cook and MyTravel in the UK will give a market share in the package travel industry in the UK of approximately 35 per cent.

Nationally there will be shop closures among the combined high street travel agency network of 1,030 branches on the Mainland - 456 Going Places and 574 Thomas Cook.

But in Northern Ireland where there are 19 Going Places/MyTravel branches and nine Thomas Cook shops, the only closures are likely to be where two shops are in very close proximity.

John Bloodworth, who will become Head of UK for the enlarged group, indicated that MyTravel's direct-sell arm Direct Holidays would grow following completion of the merger. Direct Holidays have a Belfast base in Howard Street.

He admitted that duplication between some of the 30-plus brands such as youth operations Club 18-30 and Escapades, could lead to consolidation, but the main Airtours and Thomas Cook tour operating businesses were complementary, he argued.

Doreen McKenzie, Spokesperson for Northern Ireland's ABTA travel agents said a change in the lineup of major UK tour operators was inevitable - "the industry was waiting for it."

"It seems like a sound commercial decision," said the ABTA Spokesperson. "There may be a reduction in the number of brands after this merger but local travellers have never been so well off with regards to choice"

Added John Bloodworth: "We want to respect brand equity," he said, revealing that the two sides had been in talks for around two months as they both considered acquiring the mainstream business of First Choice - which has now been withdrawn from sale.

First Choice are the parent company of local brands Falcon Holidays and JWT. First Choice/Falcon has as many as 40 retail shops in the Republic but none in Northern Ireland - nor apparently does it have any plans to expand into the retail market here.

The other major tour operator in the Province Thomson Holidays.