Travel industry leaders have spoken of their sadness, fond memories and urged sector cooperation in the wake of the collapse of Thomas Cook.
Social media was flooded with messages of condolence and support from the early hours of this morning (Monday 23 September) after news broke at 2am of the iconic travel brand’s failure after 178 years in business.
Such fond memories of Thomas Cook throughout my career, from running YTS training at Norbreck Castle to hosting top performer trips across the globe. So sad to see the demise of an iconic brand but more importantly deepest sympathy to all the lovely staff affected by this x
— Lisamcauley (@lisamcauley01) September 23, 2019
Lisa McAuley, managing director B2B tour operations dnata Travel Europe, tweeted her recollections of running youth training scheme programmes for Cook at Norbreck Castle in Blackpool and hosting trips for top performing staff “across the globe”.
“So sad to see the demise of an iconic brand but more importantly deepest sympathy to all the lovely staff affected,” she posted.
Absolutely gutted for the loss of #ThomasCook. I began my career with TC at an fx desk at Luton Airport, so proud my first role was with such an iconic brand. Very sad day for the industry. Thoughts to all the staff. CAA will do a great job bringing all passengers home
— Simon Brodie (@SimonJBrodie) September 23, 2019
Reminiscing about his first job in travel – on Cook’s foreign exchange desk at Luton airport – was Travel Trade Consultancy director Simon Brodie, who wrote how “proud" he was to begin his career “with such an iconic brand”.
“Absolutely gutted for the loss of #ThomasCook... Very sad day for the industry. Thoughts to all the staff. CAA will do a great job bringing all passengers home,” he posted.
Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, said it was “[Cook’s] people and our friends we are really thinking of today”.
“The failure has demonstrated again the remarkable resilience of our industry to deal with adversity, it underlines the importance of our financial protection models with the Atol scheme,” he said.
Lewis added he had “every confidence” the CAA would be prepared to handle the repatriation of Cook customers “as quickly and as efficiently as possible”.
“It is now the role of our membership to serve those customers that are due to travel and I know that they will do an equally amazing job of managing that as sensitively and professionally as they can.
“We have had our team in all over the weekend, helping members prepare for today, and we will continue to be available to support them. We have also set up a special support line for members to call.”
#ThomasCook
— Richard Dixon (@RichardDixon66) September 23, 2019
Terrible news. Shout out to all the fantastic staff and the 1000's of customers affected.
Tough few days ahead for the industry to work through the fallout.
Time to come together and shine.
Holidaysplease boss Richard Dixon called for industry unity around Cook’s collapse and praised its “fantastic staff” who have lost their jobs.
“Tough few days ahead for the industry to work through the fallout,” he tweeted. “Time to come together and shine.”
I have no words. A sad day for our industry. Sending strength & courage to the team @ Thomas Cook, the airline, the reps, the Shops around the country & those linked to TCK. Let’s support one another as we work our way through supporting our customers at this time #ThomasCook
— Cherie Richards (@GlobalRichards) September 23, 2019
Cherie Richards, Global Travel Group commercial director, took to Twitter to send “strength and courage” to affected staff across its head office; retail, airline and in-resort teams.
“Let’s support one another as we work our way through supporting our customers at this time #ThomasCook,” she added.
My heart goes out to all the incredible staff @ThomasCookUK & globally. Just tragic for this to happen to Such an amazing brand. \uD83D\uDC9B
— Jo Rzymowska (@JoRzyCruise) September 23, 2019
Cook’s failure was described as “just tragic” by Celebrity Cruises’ managing director, UK, Ireland and Asia Pacific, Jo Rzymowska.
“My heart goes out to all the incredible staff @ThomasCookUK and globally,” she tweeted.
Such sad news to wake up to this morning. Thomas Cook was an iconic UK travel company, and it’s people are amazing, they were passionate about their company, feeling for them all this morning.
— Brian Young (@brianryoung) September 23, 2019
Brian Young, managing director of G Adventures EMEA, added: “Such sad news to wake up to this morning. Thomas Cook was an iconic UK travel company and its people are amazing, they were passionate about their company, feeling for them all this morning.”