LONDON: The collapse of British travel operator Thomas Cook TCG.L has left Hundreds of thousands holidaymakers abroad and forced governments and insurers to coordinate a huge operation to get them home. The company ran hotels, resorts and airlines ferrying 19 million people a year to 16 different countries.Britain, Nordic region, Spain, Poland, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, France, Hungary, The Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia have enumerated steps being taken to help the stranded travellers.The 178-year-old debt-plagued group, which had struggled against fierce online competition for some time and blamed Brexit uncertainty for a recent drop in bookings, declared bankruptcy after failing to secure £200 million ($250 million, 227 million euros) from private investors.Monday´s bankruptcy, which followed a lengthy period of chronic financial turmoil after a disastrous 2007 merger deal, left some 600,000 tourists stranded worldwide according to Thomas Cook, while its 22,000 staff are out of a job.The British government launched emergency plans to bring some 150,000 UK holidaymakers back home from destinations including Bulgaria, Cuba, Turkey and the United States.Authorities have meanwhile launched an official investigation into the corporate collapse, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman who also cautioned that there were "a number of complicated reasons behind the failure".As well as grounding its planes, Thomas Cook has been forced to shut travel agencies, leaving the group´s 22,000 global employees -- 9,000 of whom are in Britain -- out of a job.Thomas Cook said in a statement that "despite considerable efforts", it was unable to reach an agreement between the company´s stakeholders and proposed new money providers. "The company´s board has therefore concluded that it had no choice but to take steps to enter into compulsory liquidation with immediate effect," it added.The long-troubled group has also been blighted by enormous costs arising from its disastrous 2007 merger with MyTravel, a deal which left it plagued with huge levels of debt. The UK government said on Monday it had hired planes to fly home British tourists, in a mass repatriation plan codenamed Operation Matterhorn which began immediately.Chinese peer Fosun, which was already the biggest shareholder in Thomas Cook, had agreed last month to inject £450 million into the business as part of an initial £900 million rescue package. In return, Fosun was to acquire a 75 percent stake in Thomas Cook´s tour operating division and 25 percent of its airline unit."Fosun is disappointed that Thomas Cook Group has not been able to find a viable solution for its proposed recapitalisation with other affiliates, core lending banks, senior note holders and additional involved parties," it said on Monday.Cabinet maker Thomas Cook created the travel firm in 1841, transporting temperance supporters by train between British cities. It soon began arranging foreign trips, being the first operator to take British travellers on escorted visits to Europe in 1855, followed soon after by destinations further afield.Thomas Cook´s demise caps a dramatic fall from grace for a company which was demoted from London´s FTSE 100 shares index in 2010 — and from the second-tier FTSE 250 last year. Its shares are worthless and now suspended. "It ultimately is management´s fault — whether they should have taken debt on (and) whether they should have had such a big high street portfolio," said Helal Miah, analyst at The Share Centre. "Maybe they should have thought about offloading that a lot earlier. They didn´t have the foresight of changing the business structure around," he told AFP.
09-25-2019, 07:22 PM
Hundreds of thousands stranded: Countries scramble after Thomas Cook?s collapse
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