Two weeks after the shock collapse of Thomas Cook and the hotel industry in Cyprus appears to be getting back to normal, but nonetheless counting its losses.
Paphos seems to be the district with the biggest losses since most hotels associated with the giant British travel agency are there. It has already been announced that they will not be paid for the months of July, August and September.
Overall, losses for Cyprus are estimated to be around €40.5 million for 2019. Revenue from Thomas Cook for the three months of July, August and September amounts to €30 million despite the fact that initial estimates put the figure at €50 million. This is because some €20 million owed by the Scandinavian subsidiary is slowly but steadily being paid.
Beyond that, the Deputy Ministry of Tourism estimates that out of the 25,000 Britons who were scheduled to come to Cyprus with Thomas Cook during the remainder of the tourist season, some 10,000 seats have been covered by other airlines.
The loss from the remaining 15,000 British tourists not coming to Cyprus following the company’s collapse is estimated at €10.5 million. Therefore, the final bankruptcy bill for Cyprus for 2019 is estimated at around €40.5 million.
Famagusta district has every reason to feel relieved. Protaras and Ayia Napa have the largest volume of Scandinavian tourists. Although the future of the subsidiary company is uncertain, Phileleftheros has found out that the district’s hoteliers have received some of the money owed based on existing agreements.
But hoteliers are now rushing to broker new deals for the next summer season. TUI is constantly in touch with the area’s hoteliers, however, the company has already booked a fairly large proportion of beds in Cyprus.
With the collapse of Thomas Cook, the pie is unavoidably expected to get reshuffled. In recent years, 2-3 giant travel agents were the main players in the market, with the Cyprus tourism industry ending up having over 70% of dependency on them. For example, TUI, Thomas Cook and Jet 2 were the three companies identified with the British market.
In 2017, 54% of British visitors came to Cyprus through these three companies. In the Russian market, the biggest piece of the pie is in the hands of Biblio-Globus, TEZ, TUI and Pegas. And these companies are already doing their sums so as to take advantage of the market gap.
By Demetra Landou
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Read more:
https://in-cyprus.com/collateral-damage-from-thomas-cook-collapse/
