September 25 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's tourism and hospitality sector will "lose millions" as a consequence of the collapse of British global travel group Thomas Cook, which works with over 50 hotels in the country, the tourism ministry in Sofia said.
The situation is exceptionally worrying and will affect not only this year's summer season, which is nearing its end, but also the 2020 summer season, Bulgaria's tourism minister Nikolina Angelkova said as quoted in a statement published by the tourism ministry on Tuesday.
The losses of Bulgarian hoteliers will amount to 36 million euro ($39.5 million) after the travel giant's collapse, local news outlet Investor.bg reported on Tuesday citing industry officials.
Every year over 350,000 British tourists visit Bulgaria. In 2019, some 13,000 tourists have travelled with Thomas Cook Airlines to Bulgaria, according to the tourism ministry.
UK's government is making everything possible to return all Thomas Cook tourists to their home states, which will lead to the biggest repatriation of people during peacetime. There are about 6,000 tourists of the company currently staying in Bulgaria, Hristo Galbachev, executive director of Astral Holidays, an official representative of Thomas Cook Group in Bulgaria, said in the statement.
Thomas Cook Group announced it went bankrupt on September 23.
"Thomas Cook UK Plc and associated UK entities have entered Compulsory Liquidation and are now under the control of the Official Receiver. The UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect and all future flights and holidays are cancelled. A dedicated support service is being provided by The Civil Aviation Authority to assist customers currently overseas and those in the UK with future bookings," a notice published on the travel group's website read.
Thomas Cook Group was formed in 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group. However, Thomas Cook's history traces back to the 19th century, making it the world's first international travel company. The Thomas Cook Group included a tour operator and an airline segment.
($ = 0.91037 euro)