Thomas Cook customers say Tunisia hotel stopped them leaving
British tourists in Tunisia said their hotel stopped them leaving for several hours on Saturday night over concerns about payment by their holiday operator Thomas Cook, though the Tunisian government said the incident was a misunderstanding.
Gary Seale, a guest at the Orangers Hotel in Hammamet, posted on Facebook: “Security have refused to let us out of the hotel and barricaded us in.”
He later posted that he reached the airport later on Saturday and flew home on Sunday.
The incident came amid growing concerns raised by some customers of Thomas Cook, as the company’s bosses met lenders and creditors in London in a last-ditch attempt to raise 200 million pounds ($250 million) to keep it afloat.
The British government has said it has plans in place to bring home stranded holidaymakers if Thomas Cook — the world’s oldest travel company — goes out of business. Thomas Cook itself was not immediately available to comment, but it has been using its social media channels to reassure customers that the company is still operating as normal. Tunisia’s Tourism Ministry on Sunday attributed the incident to a “misunderstanding” and said the tourists had been able to leave on the flight on which were originally booked.
“Fourteen tourists were asked to wait a few minutes to confirm with the representative of Thomas Cook ... and quickly got the agreement, and the tourists left and traveled on time last night,” the ministry said in a statement. Tourism, a critical sector for Tunisia’s economy, was hit hard in 2015 by two militant attacks that killed scores of people, with tourist numbers only recovering this year according to the government. Running hotels, resorts, airlines and cruises, Thomas Cook has 600,000 customers on holiday, meaning governments and insurance companies could be forced to step in and bring them home if the company goes into administration. Unions and the opposition Labour Party have urged the government to stump up the cash, but the foreign secretary appeared to dismiss that idea on Sunday.
“We don’t systematically step in with the taxpayers’ money when businesses are going under unless there’s a good strategic national interest,” Dominic Raab told the BBC, adding that plans were in place to prevent anyone from being stranded. The company, founded in 1841, has been fighting for its survival after its lenders threatened to pull the plug on a rescue deal that has been months in the making.