British travel giant Thomas Cook’s collapse has led to changes in the names of Cyprus hotels associated with it and these hotels are now being ‘reintroduced’ to the public.
Global hotel brands such as Sentido Hotels & Resorts, Smartline Hotels, Sunconnect Resorts, Sunprime hotels and Sunwing Family Resorts were under the wings of Thomas Cook. Many of these brands were also operating in Cyprus, and still do, but under new names.
Specifically, Sentido Thalassa Coral Bay in Paphos is now named Coral Thalassa Bay, Sentido Cypria Bay by Leonardo in Paphos is renamed Leonardo Cypria Bay, the Smartline Hotel in Protaras is now Papouis Protaras and the SunConnect Sofianna Resort in Paphos is now listed as Sofianna Resort & Spa.
Since many hotels in Cyprus close down in winter, the question now is whether the remaining ones under the Thomas Cook brand will also change their names. These are Sentido Sandy Beach in Larnaca, the two Sunprime hotels (which only accommodate adults) in Protaras and Ayia Napa and the Sunwing Hotel in Ayia Napa whose owners are the Cyprus Archbishopric.
Informed sources the name or mode of operation of Sunwing won’t change since rescuing Thomas Cook’s Scandinavian arm was crucial to the extension of its lease under the same status.
Thomas Cook collapsed in September 2019. With over 170 years of experience in the tourism industry, the group included travel agencies, airlines and cruise ships and was employing over 21,000 employees worldwide.
Thomas Cook’s bankruptcy recorded dire consequences worldwide. In Cyprus, hoteliers recorded millions of losses and the tourism industry at large had suffered a severe blow.
Protaras and Ayia Napa suffered the most as 70% to 80% of their bookings were exclusively carried out by Thomas Cook.
By Marios Roussos
Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/thomas-cook-collapse-impact-on-cyprus-under-control/
