Thomas Cook, the oldest holiday and travels agency in the world, collapsed on Sunday evening as last ditch talks to save the company failed to yield any fruits.
This has been a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of UK travelers, who are now stranded in hotels and holiday resorts across the world. Yesterday, disturbing videos of UK travelers being kept under lock and key in a Tunisian hotel surfaced, with hotel owners claiming they had not been paid by Thomas Cook for the stay of their guests.
Reports from Euronews, Sky and ABC News Australia put the number of stranded holidaymakers to be around 600,000, composed of at least 150,000 UK nationals and 300,000 Germans. The UK government has launched an operation to bring back all its stranded nationals within 2 weeks. All Thomas Cook planes have been grounded.
With the collapse of the 178-year old firm, it is said that more than 21,000 jobs are now at risk. The scale of the ripple effect of the Thomas Cook collapse is yet to be known, as the company works with hotels, charter bus operators and resorts. The situation is evolving and the impact on the UK and the European markets will be watched closely.