Intourist (April 12, 1929 - Present) was the official tourism agency in the Soviet Union and was responsible for welcoming all foreign tourists to the U.S.S.R. and providing them with guides. Intourist was founded by the People's Commissariat of Commerce, the People's Commissariat of Railways, and the Sovtorgflot merchant fleet, and its name is a contraction of inostrannyj turist (foreign tourists). Its first foreign office opened in London about 1930, and locations in Amsterdam, Berlin, and New York soon followed. Intourist 'owned' hotels and other important tourism related businesses throughout the Soviet Union, but, since they were owned by the Soviet government, Intourist itself never truly owned anything. Privatized in 1992, a majority share (50.1%) was owned by the British Thomas Cook Group from 2011 until the group collapsed in September 2019. it was then acquired by Anex Tours, a company based in Turkey, in November of that year.