- via Skift.
One of Europe’s biggest travel companies is no more and the damage it leaves in its wake is likely to take some time to clear.
After weeks of speculation, in the early hours of Monday morning, Thomas Cook announced it was shutting down after failing to complete a $1.1 billion rescue deal. The collapse isn’t just awful news for its employees and customers but the hundreds of other businesses likely to suffer as a result.
The company was something of a throwback to a pre-internet era, operating a fleet of aircraft together with retail shops and hotels, packaging it all up and selling it to customers. This approach meant that plenty of other companies had skin in the Thomas Cook game.
Countless hoteliers, tour operators, and other travel businesses will be owed millions of dollars and are unlikely to see a full return given the scale of Thomas Cook’s debts, which total about $2 billion (£1.7 billion).
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