One of the most renowned travel firm with branches and subsidiaries worldwide, British “Thomas Cook” recently declared bankruptcy. The most affected country in the region is Greece, where according to estimates by the Greek Tourism Confederation, damages to tourism businesses are expected to be between 250 million and 500 million euros. According to the president of the Hotel Association of Macedonia, Krste Blazevski told the Voice of America that, according to preliminary estimates, the debt of the firm to the hotels on the Ohrid Riviera amounts to around 100,000 euros.

What will happen next, we do not know. We have sent emails, but apparently there is no answer yet. Whether that company will be restructured or restarted, whether someone will take over those debts or not, time will tell, Blazevski says.

Tourists do not believe this will have a negative impact on tourism in Ohrid.

The British firm has been operating in the Macedonian market since 2016 and around 10,000 tourists came to the country using their service. They operated once to twice a week to Ohrid from June to September. According to the data of Ministry of Economy, “Thomas Cook” mostly carried tourists from Belgium during this tourist season.