Thomas Cook affects 20% of tourism in the Canary Islands and the Government warns of the "negative impact" it will have on Spain

• London begins the repatriation of British tourists trapped by Thomas Cook: the largest since World War II
• Thomas Cook files for bankruptcy after failure of emergency negotiations

The acting Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, said today that the British Government has guaranteed that a contingency plan is activated that will repatriate the Spaniards affected by Thomas Cook's suspension of payments.

According to Maroto, the responsibility for this repatriation rests with the British Government and has said that airplanes will be chartered to bring tourists trapped in their holiday destinations. The Government is still quantifying how many Spaniards who are now on vacation have affected the bankruptcy of the tour operator.

In the coming days , the autonomous communities and hoteliers affected will be summoned in order to study joint measures to "alleviate the negative impact that the group's operations will have on our tourism market".

The bankruptcy of Thomas Cook not only leaves thousands of tourists in the air who were spending their vacations in Spain, especially in the Balearic and Canary Islands, but also opens a crisis, given the weight the operator had on the islands.

In the Canary Islands, 20% of tourists are managed by the British tour operator. Between 25,000 and 30,000 tourists are spending their vacations in these islands. Thomas Cook was the second operator with more weight in the archipelago and brings more than four million tourists to the islands. Between January and August of this year, it managed 2.6 million visitors, especially British.

Impact in Spain

"The bankruptcy of Thomas Cook makes us broken with air connectivity. He was one of the main actors in the Canary Islands," Jorge Marichal, president of the Tenerife Hotel Federation, said on Onda Cero. In the Canary Islands 11 flights have been canceled on Monday, although there were 159 planned throughout the week.

In the Canary Islands the impact will be significant, as the Islands have suffered these two years the closure of airlines such as Air Berlin or Monarch and at the beginning of the year Ryanair will also close its base in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. Marichal has pointed out that many smaller telemarketers hired the British tour operator to carry out air transport, so their bankruptcy will also affect third parties.

In the Balearic Islands there are more than 2,500 British tourists affected by bankruptcy. For today Monday, a total of 24 flights were scheduled for this Monday at the airports of Mallorca and Menorca, according to Aena information. 10 in Palma and 14 in Menorca, reports Lola Sampedro.

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