Tourism Ministry: Currently there are no Romanian tourists affected by tour operator Thomas Cook's bankruptcy

Romanian tourists who have bought tourist services or packages through the tour operator Thomas Cook have not yet submitted any notifications regarding possible problems encountered, the Ministry of Tourism announced on Tuesday.

"Today, a working meeting was organized at the Ministry of Tourism, attended by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Association of Travel Agencies in Romania (ANAT). Minister of Tourism Bogdan Trif demanded yesterday [Monday, 23 September 2019] that the ANAT representatives present an exact situation of the Romanian tourists who have bought tourist services from the tour operator Thomas Cook. Until now, no complaints have been submitted to the Ministry of Tourism or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ANAT from the Romanian tourists who bought tourist services / packages from Thomas Cook. From the data presented within the Working Group set up at the level of the Ministry of Tourism, it is not clear that, at present, there would be Romanian citizens in difficulty so that they need repatriation," mentions a release from the institution sent to AGERPRES.

According to the quoted source, the Minister of Tourism requested, through an official address, for all the travel agencies in Romania to report to the relevant ministry the exact situation of all tourists who have purchased packages or tourist services from tour operator Thomas Cook.

In the same context, the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommend the affected Romanian citizens and those in special situations to request consular assistance on the telephone numbers of the diplomatic mission or of the competent consular office in the state of residence, the calls being redirected to the Contact and Support Center of Romanian Citizens Abroad and taken over by call center operators around the clock.

All the notifications will be communicated as a matter of urgency to the Working Group established at the Ministry of Tourism, which has the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ANAT, so that they can intervene to solve the problems in the shortest time.

The Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ANAT will continue to ensure the careful monitoring of the situation until all the tourists who are currently in the execution of a tourist package return safely to the country, the source said.

British operator Thomas Cook, the world's oldest tourism company, announced on Monday that it had gone bankrupt after failing to find, over the weekend, the necessary funds for survival and would go into "immediate liquidation."