Islands hit by Thomas Cook bombshell
Bookings from the collapsed tour operator accounted for 20% of all bookings in the Canaries and Balearics this season
THE SUDDEN disappearance of Thomas Cook will have a huge negative impact on the Canary and Balearic Islands’ tourism trade.
Figures released by both regional tourism authorities show that bookings via the Thomas Cook group accounted for 20% of this year's total figures.
Only a percentage of that figure will be recovered, if and when customers are reimbursed, and if they decide to go to the islands with another tour operator or independently.
This week, 159 Thomas Cook flights were expected to leave or arrive at the Canary Islands from the UK and it is estimated that between 25,000 and 30,000 holidaymakers currently on the islands will have to be repatriated.
Local hoteliers complain that due to the reliance on the collapsed tour operator, there is no stable alternative after Ryanair announced it was closing its bases in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. The disappearance of Air Berlin and Monarch in recent years was partially compensated by Thomas Cook - which is now no more.
In the Balearics, around 2,500 Thomas Cook holidaymakers were left stranded on Monday and the FCO deployed assistants at Palma de Mallorca and Mahón (Menorca) airport as hundreds of Britons arrived to find they were on one of the 24 flights that had been cancelled overnight.
Thomas Cook bookings represent between 10 and 15% of all reservations said the Mallorca hoteliers’ guild this week.
In total, the collapse of Thomas Cook will leave a €200million hole in Spain's tourism trade this year. The Canary Islands alone account for €50m and unions claim around 10% of jobs in the region's tourism trade (that employs 135,000) are at risk.
Last year, the Thomas Cook Group brought 3.6million tourists to Spain with its three airlines
Acting tourism and industry minister Reyes Maroto has scheduled meetings with all affected regional tourism councillors to evaluate the impact in each area and, if required, set up a compensation channel.
The collapse this week not only affects current bookings. Thomas Cook payments were backdated 30 and 60 days, so in many cases hotels’ entire summer income has been lost.
Thomas Cook owns the Casa Cook in Ibiza and manages or entirely books hotel of the Sentido, Sunconnect and Smartline hotel chains mainly in the islands.