At least 17 hotel companies in the Algarve are owed money by Thomas Cook, the British travel firm which went bust at the start of the week sending shockwaves across the international tourism industry.
The debts range between “just a few thousand euros in some cases up to €2 million in others,” says Elidérico Viegas, president of the Algarve hotel association (AHETA).
There are other affected companies that have not yet disclosed how much they are owed, while others have chosen not to.
Diário de Notícias reports today that groups like Vila Galé and AP Hotels worked with Thomas Cook in the Algarve, while in Madeira the package holiday company worked mostly with Pestana.
So far, none of these groups have commented about the issue with the press.
Viegas had already stressed the impact that Thomas Cook’s collapse would have in the Algarve, having now also explained that the decreasing number of tour operators is starting to leave some of them with “near monopolies”.
“It will become harder to negotiate with them,” he says, adding that the consequences of another collapse would be even more serious.
Meantime, AHETA is planning to present a proposal to the government suggesting the creation of a “compensation fund” ranging between €15 million and €20 million to help the affected hotels deal with the situation.
DN reports that the Secretary of State for Tourism is already working on a “series of initiatives to help the hotels affected by Thomas Cook’s collapse.”
