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The collapse of a 187-year-old pioneering travel firm marks the end of an era.<\/p>\n
The company, known for its iconic slogan \u201cDon\u2019t just book it, Thomas Cook it\u201d, was the late 19th<\/sup> century inventor of modern tourism, conducting tours to Europe, the Middle East and beyond.<\/p>\n In 1886, they were asked by the British Government to organize the pilgrimage to Mecca, for the Indian Muslims. A perilous journey through the desert was first officially facilitated by the British travel agent, Thomas Cook.<\/p>\n Among their offices worldwide, the one in the Ottoman capital Istanbul was opened as far back as 1883.<\/p>\n Today, the liquidated company\u2019s largest shareholder is the Chinese firm Fosun. The second largest shareholder is a Turkish businessman, Ne\u015fet Ko\u00e7kar.<\/p>\n So, it is no surprise that the impact of the well-known tour operator\u2019s demise could be felt keenly in Turkey, too.<\/p>\n Historical connections aside, Thomas Cook has been vital to Turkey\u2019s tourist trade in recent years. According to Thomas Cook\u2019s own website, Turkey was the second most popular summer holiday destination in 2019.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s collapse has the potential to damage the tourism sector in popular seaside resorts in Turkey. According to the Hoteliers Federation (TUROFED), Thomas Cook\u2019s bankruptcy may mean a loss of 600,000-700,000 tourists a year for Turkey. TUROFED Chairman Osman Ay\u0131k told the Reuters news agency that there were currently 45,000 tourists in Turkey who had travelled with Thomas Cook.<\/p>\n With such large numbers of tourists facing uncertainty and disruption, Turkey\u2019s Ministry of Culture and Tourism quickly stepped in to prevent the sort of chaos witnessed in other tourist hotspots. In Tunisia, for example, holidaymakers were either evicted or pressurized to cover unpaid bills from their tour operator. There were grim scenes of anxiety and confusion everywhere the company operated.<\/p>\n Hotels in Turkey were warned not to demand money from Thomas Cook customers. The ministry promised to put together a credit loan package to help affected hotels.<\/p>\n It is welcome news for Turkey\u2019s tourism establishments, but for the guests stranded there, their hope lies with their own governments.<\/p>\n The largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history has already started but it will take up to two weeks to bring more than 150,000 British tourists back to Britain. Another half a million people from other countries are also trying to return home. Around a million holidaymakers\u2019 future bookings are affected.<\/p>\n But all is not lost. Holidays booked with companies like Thomas Cook are protected under the Air Travel Organisers\u2019 Licensing (Atol) scheme, thanks to European Union directives. Some of the hoteliers may also cover their losses by making claims under ATOL.<\/p>\n Thomas Cook\u2019s collapse has hit holidaymakers hard and understandably, the spotlight is on their inconvenience and disappointments for now.<\/p>\n Yet, the company\u2019s 21,000 employees, including 9,000 in the UK, have been mourning the loss of their livelihoods, too.<\/p>\n In a rapidly shrinking industry with changing consumer behaviour and demands, new job opportunities are limited. Thomas Cook\u2019s approximately 600 stores closing, UK\u2019s already suffering high streets will become even more deserted.<\/p>\n The British government has come under fire for not offering a rescue package.\u00a0 The government has defended the decision saying that a bailout would not solve underlying problems to do with the changing nature of travel.<\/p>\n They may have read the public\u2019s mind better than the opposition. A YouGov snap poll conducted on the day of Thomas Cook\u2019s bankruptcy found that 54% of people think the government was right not to save the company; 63% believing that it would have still collapsed, even if it was bailed out.<\/p>\n Was Brexit a contributing factor?<\/p>\n Even though, earlier in the year, Thomas Cook\u2019s chief executive said the Brexit process was causing many UK customers to delay their holiday plans, today, most commentators seem to blame the company\u2019s poor business decisions, uncontrollable borrowing and Thomas Cook bosses rewarding themselves with huge bonuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The collapse of a 187-year-old pioneering travel firm marks the end of an era. The company, known for its iconic slogan \u201cDon\u2019t just book it, Thomas Cook it\u201d, was the late 19th century inventor of modern tourism, conducting tours to Europe, the Middle East and beyond. In 1886, they were asked by the British Government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[46,29],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29568,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29563\/revisions\/29568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}