British tourism giant collapses and leaves drifting hundreds of thousands of customers who are traveling

BOOOOMM

Posted 23 September 2019 1:35 GMT

British authorities have begun the process of repatriation of Thomas Cook customers, the biggest operation of this kind in the history of the UK .

Airbus A321 Thomas Cook takes off from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on July 28, 2018.

Paul Hanna  / Reuters

Thomas Cook, the company the world's oldest travel, has collapsed and initiated a liquidation process. Negotiations with lenders on additional financing of its debt failed to save this tourism giant in the UK.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the United Kingdom announced in a  statement  the cessation of all transactions in the group with immediate effect and noted that all bookings made for this, both flights as 'packs' holiday, have been canceled. The company website is no longer available.

The British government, along with the Civil Aviation Authority has begun the process of repatriation of tens of thousands of clients of Thomas Cook who are abroad, the largest operation of its kind in the history of the country in times of peace. It is estimated that about  600,000 people  who contracted the services of the company are traveling right now, about 150,000 of whom are British.

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"I want to apologize to our millions of customers and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years," said the group's executive director, Peter Fankhauser, in the early hours of Monday. "It is a matter of deep regret for me and the advice that we did not have success," he added.

In addition to tourists adrift, 21,000 company employees face a scenario of massive layoffs in 16 countries and 550 offices in the UK facing possible closure.

The tourism giant, founded in 1841, began offering local services excursions by train, survived two world wars and was the first organized trips in Europe, eventually expanding the geography of its operations.

Now the group, hit by competition from travel services 'online' and partly by recent heat waves in Europe, which pushed its customers to postpone last minute bookings, is devastated by a debt of  1,700 million pounds sterling  (more than 2,122 million dollars). Other factors that contributed to the heavy indebtedness of the company were changes in the tourism market and geopolitical events developed in recent years.

In the long run, the collapse of Thomas Cook could affect the economies of its major destinations such as Spain and Turkey, says  Reuters .

In addition to tourists adrift, 21,000 company employees face a scenario of massive layoffs in 16 countries and 550 offices in the UK facing possible closure.

The tourism giant, founded in 1841, began offering local services excursions by train, survived two world wars and was the first organized trips in Europe, eventually expanding the geography of its operations.


British tourism giant collapses and leaves drifting hundreds of thousands of customers who are traveling