Government was right not to bail out Thomas Cook, says ABTA chief
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer believes the UK Government made the correct decision over whether to bail out Thomas Cook.
"Personally I think they were right. When you see the speed in which Thomas Cook unravelled I’m not sure £200 million would have lasted that long," he said.
Speaking at this week’s ABTA Convention in Tokyo, in a special extra session devoted to Thomas Cook’s failure, Tanzer said there were lessons to be learned for travel companies.
"Be very aware of the companies you are doing business with," he warned Convention delegates.
Tanzer said it shouldn’t be automatically assumed that because a company is licensed by the CAA as having a clean bill of health that it’s safe to do business with it.
He called for the Government’s review into Thomas Cook’s failure to include a call for evidence from the City.
"So many employees have lost their jobs and customers have lost their holidays. The City should be brought to the table," he said.
Tanzer had earlier told the Convention audience that he believes the failure of Thomas Cook was more a failure of corporate finance than of travel.
He said there wouldn’t be a shortage of people wanting to take up the £9.5 billion sales that Thomas Cook generated.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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