The World’s Oldest Travel Firm, Thomas Cook gave us a piece of shocking news on Monday. The firm got collapsed leaving behind thousands of hundreds of holidaymakers behind in British History.
The firm provided convenience to 19 million travellers by running hotels, resorts and airlines.
Via: Wikimedia Commons
Who Gets Affected
The firm generated a revenue of 9.6 Billion pounds in 2018. It currently has 6,00,000 people abroad and more than 150,000 British citizens. The company was founded in 1841 and is the oldest travel company. However, the company has debts of around 1.7 billion pounds.
What Happens With The Tourists Now?
Via: Telegraph
UK Civil Aviation Authority will launch a repatriation Programme for the next two weeks as adviced by the British Government. The tourists will be brought back to the UK from the duration of these two weeks. The programme starts from today and will continue till October 6.
Aircraft and commercial flights will be used to get back tourists from various places.
For the customers who do not belong to Britain or were not travelling there, Thomas Cook will look for alternative arrangements. They will also speak with the insurance company in Germany to coordinate for this cause.
This failure has put 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide.
The Advice To The Customers
“Customers in the Overseas should not travel back to the UK until their return flight gets confirmed on the dedicated website,” says the Civil Aviation Authority.
Apology From The CEO
Via: Travel Daily Media
The CEO of the company Peter Fankhauser has apologised and said-
“I would like to apologise to our millions of customers and thousands of employees, suppliers and partners who have supported us for many years.”
“This marks a deeply sad day for the company which pioneered package holidays and made travel possible for millions of people around the world.”
Why Did It Collapse?
The company suffered a high debt of 200 million pounds on an already agreed 900 million pound package. The company wanted to see it through the winter months when it receives less cash and must pay hotels in the summer services.
The rescue deal of £900m was made by Thomas Cook by their company’s largest stakeholders Chineses Firm Fosun. But unfortunately, a recent demand raised from its bank raise the fund to £200m which put them into real debt.
Many reasons such as political unrest in many countries, delayed bookings and climatic conditions have also contributed to this collapse.
The company has regretted the loss and inconvenience.