Algarve authorities fear that the bankruptcy of British travel agent Thomas Cook will leave the services provided during the high season in the region unpaid, even though the operator’s tourists represent only 0.2% of Faro airport passengers.


There will be an impact, “not only on tourists who had already booked their holidays”, but, above all, on the services already provided during the two months of high season, which “is unlikely to be paid” and can be as much as “a few million euros”, the president of the Association of Hotels and Tourism Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Elidérico Viegas, told Lusa.


The hotel representative expressed concern about the debt that “reflects the months with the most expensive prices” and that often represent “50 percent of the annual turnover of the companies”.


The importance of Thomas Cook as an operator in the Algarve has been decreasing, reflecting “competition from ‘low cost’ companies and online reservations”, currently representing 10,000 tourists flying into Faro airport, “only 0.2 percent of the annual number of passengers”.


Many of the packages marketed by Thomas Cook are for accommodation in the Algarve, but also for “tourist units in the province of Huelva”, despite using Faro Airport, which could represent “a minor impact of this bankruptcy on the region”.


Portugal’s Algarve Tourism Association (ATA) president, João Fernandes also revealed that the news about the financial difficulties and a possible bankruptcy of Thomas Cook “has been going on for some time” and that, therefore, there was “some caution by operators and hotel units”, which could reduce the negative impact of this bankruptcy on the Algarve region.


The packages marketed by Thomas Cook in the Algarve, “ended in October and would only start in March,” which, according to the president of the RTA, will give the market time to take over this capacity.


Elidérico Viegas, on the other hand, warns of a market that “is beginning to get narrower and narrower”, as the disappearance of the aviation companies and market operators makes “the alternatives increasingly smaller, with greater concentration”, which means that the impacts created by these bankruptcies “reach a much larger dimension”.


The ATA is supporting the process of welcoming and returning home the 500 tourists who remain in the region and who have been affected by the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook.


In a statement, ATA president, João Fernandes, said he believed that it would not be a complicated operation, since the Algarve has several operators and airlines that guarantee direct connections to the main airports in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, the main markets the British operator was working with.


He said that Algarve Tourism is closely monitoring the situation, together with Faro Airport and associations representing the sector, to find solutions to minimise the impact of the operator’s bankruptcy on Algarve tourism, even though the weight of tourists arriving in the region via Thomas Cook is negligible.


At the same time, Turismo do Algarve is stepping up its efforts to make good the losses resulting from the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, by stepping up negotiations with other tour operators and by carrying out marketing campaigns.


The British tour operator Thomas Cook announced bankruptcy on 23 September, after failing to find, over the weekend, funds necessary to ensure its survival and, therefore, will enter into immediate liquidation, according to a statement published on the group’s website.
The group needed to raise £200 million (about €227 million) in additional funds, claimed by banks such as RBS or Lloyds.


The 178-year-old company had planned to sign a rescue package with its largest shareholder, the Chinese group Fosun, but this was delayed by the banks’ demand that the group had new bookings for the winter.


The government said in a statement that it is monitoring the effects of the bankruptcy of the tour operator Thomas Cook on tourists and national companies, particularly in the regions of the Algarve and Madeira.


Regarding the Portuguese tourists who have purchased holiday packages from Thomas Cook, the secretary said that information and consumer support mechanisms have already been put in place.