Thousands of employees on the straw, hundreds of thousands of tourists stuck. British tour operator Thomas Cook announced on Monday (September 23rd) that it was going bankrupt after failing over the weekend to find the necessary funds for its survival, and will go into "immediate liquidation".

"Despite considerable efforts, discussions between the different stakeholders of the group and new sources of possible funding did not result in an agreement, so the board concluded that it had no choice but to to take steps to enter into liquidation with immediate effect, "said the statement.

In parallel, the British Aviation Authority (CAA) reported that the Thomas Cook Group, both a tour operator and airline, ceased operations with immediate effect. stays, are now canceled ". Born in 1841, the oldest independent tour operator in the world has 22,000 employees, including 9,000 in the United Kingdom.

600 000 tourists concerned

The authorities are going to have to organize a massive repatriation of some 600,000 tourists worldwide, including 150,000 for Great Britain, twice as many as when the British airline Monarch went bankrupt two years ago. more important for civilians since the Second World War.

The heavily indebted tour operator has seen its horizon darken in recent years because of fierce competition from low-cost travel websites and the reluctance of tourists worried about Brexit in particular. He had announced an abounding loss of 1.5 billion pounds for the first half, for a turnover of some 10 billion.

His fate was played out in a few days: creditors asked him last week to find 200 million pounds (227 million euros) of additional funding for an already accepted rescue plan of 900 million pounds and conducted by the Chinese Fosun, the first shareholder, to be validated. Marathon discussions were held all weekend, but to no avail.

Affected hotels in Tunisia

The pioneer of tour operators is mainly present in Europe and around the Mediterranean, with Antalya, in Turkey, and Mallorca for flagship destinations. On site, hundreds of Thomas Cook providers will see their income cut, some also likely to have to go out of business.

In Hammamet, Tunisia, officials of the hotel Les Orangers briefly delayed the departure of a group of tourists, "the time to verify that the payment" of their stay had been made, said a spokesman for the Ministry of the Tunisian Interior, joined by AFP.

It's absolutely disgusting that @ThomasCookCares customers being locked in #Tunisia #theoriginals until they pay the bill Thomas Cook owes them. pic.twitter.com/AH2Xfu0xwn

Ella🦄 (@ellaaaB) September 21, 2019

According to a tourist interviewed by AFP, hotel officials asked for additional payments when this group had already paid the costs of their stay, given the situation of the tour operator.

"After an hour, they left the hotel and are currently at the airport.There are other Thomas Cook groups in Hammamet, Sousse, Mahdia and Djerba, all payment procedures have been settled", wanted to reassure the spokesman of the Tunisian Ministry.

With AFP