THE UK’s largest tour operator has reversed its decision to scrap brochures by next year.

Tui said it will keep printed materials after research found they are “still an important part” of the booking experience for some people.

Thomson – which has since been rebranded as Tui – announced in July 2016 that it would phase out traditional brochures by 2020 and replace them with digital versions and new technology.

At that time, the firm was printing 4.7 million brochures a year across 58 different titles. This has since been cut to 39 titles. Digital versions are available of all brochures, with Tui’s website telling holiday-makers they are “doing your bit to help the planet” if they do not request a printed copy.

A spokeswoman said: “At Tui we are still committed to reducing our brochure line-up ... We undertook customer research last year which identified that the brochure is still an important part of the customer journey for some of our customers. We are now referring to the previous ‘brochure reduction strategy’ as a ‘brochure evolution strategy’.”