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The tour operator Thomas Cook has collapsed leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded abroad. All flights and vacations booked through the company have been canceled, and all retail stores closed.
Thomas Cook immediately grounded all flights in the middle of the night, halted all of its hotels services and laid off over 21,000 employees.
Overall, around 600,000 people were travelling with the company as of Sunday, though it was unclear how many of them would be left stranded. Thomas Cook says it served 22 million customers a year.
A stream of reports Monday morning began to expose the extent of the chaos: 50,000 Thomas Cook travelers were stranded in Greece, 30,000 stuck in Spain's Canary Islands, 21,000 were left in Turkey and 15,000 were in Cyprus. Airports saw long lines of Thomas Cook travelers looking for other ways to get home safely.
An estimated 1 million future travelers also found their bookings for upcoming holidays with Thomas Cook cancelled. Many of them could receive refunds under travel insurance but most had no idea when they would get their money back.
Thomas Cook began operations in 1841 with same day train excursions in England. The company then grew to have travel operations around the world but has been struggling for years due to competition from low cost airlines and the ease of booking cheap accommodations through the internet.
Adding to its debt, Thomas Cook operated 105 airline jets and had extensive real estate costs, including about 550 travel shops and 200 hotels in tropical countries.
We are sorry to announce that Thomas Cook has ceased trading with immediate effect.
— Thomas Cook Airlines (@TCAirlinesUK) September 23, 2019
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Please visit https://t.co/4lGVHZm2jQ for further advice and information.#ThomasCook pic.twitter.com/NJ7vi4UJZ4
If you are a current or future traveler with Thomas Cook, refer to this guide on “What travelers affected by the Thomas Cook Collapse need to know“
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Man Everywhere
Tuesday 24th of September 2019
That's very bad news, being such a big company, I don't know how it came to this. I hope those affected find solutions quickly.
Trevor Kucheran
Tuesday 8th of October 2019
So many people would have been affected by the lay-offs and definitely sad to see! Thanks for the comment