Tourism chief compares Thomas Cook collapse to ‘magnitude 7 earthquake’

Monday, 23 Sep, 2019 0

The chairman of Crete’s tour and travel agency group has warned the whole of Greece’s tourism industry will be scarred by the failure of Thomas Cook.

Michalis Vlatakis, chairman of the Association of Cretan Tourism and Travel Agencies, said 70% of tourist businesses on the island had contracts with the company, which went into liquidation in the early hours of Monday morning.

But he said the whole of Greece would suffer.

He told the Athens News Agency: "It’s a magnitude 7 earthquake for tourism in Crete.

"We are waiting for the tsunami any time soon. It will leave indelible scars on Greek tourism."

He called on members of the travel industry throughout Greece to step up their game in order to entice visitors and to encourage them to want to return.

"We now have to treat our customers with the best possible way so that they don’t leave and never plan to come back," he said.

The effect of Thomas Cook’s demise is also being felt elsewhere.

Tourism bosses in Majorca said the failure was the biggest tourism disaster the Balearics have ever faced.

Michelle Braddock, co-founder of Canary Islands accommodation company Lanzarote Retreats, said: "This is a devastating blow to the tourism sector in Lanzarote and we feel it is vital that the entire sector rallies here to ensure the minimum damage to the reputation of Lanzarote as a favourite destination for family holidays."

Reuters reports Turkey could miss out on up to 700,000 tourists a year following the collapse of Thomas Cook.

Osman Ayik, chairman of Turkey’s Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED) said the estimate was based on the number of tourists that had come to Turkey with Thomas Cook in recent years.

He said those tourists may now decide against returning with other travel companies.

Thomas Cook UK chief executive Peter Fankhauser apologised to hoteliers and suppliers who said had stuck with the company through the good and bad times and ‘now face difficult choices of their own’.

AITO chairman Derek Moore said Thomas Cook’s collapse left created ‘a considerable human and business cost within the travel and hotel industries being part of the collateral damage’.

Lisa

Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.

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