Luxor4u

newcastle wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 6:49 pm

BENNU wrote: Tue Sep 24, 2019 2:09 pm On the news, they said that the preferred way in UK is still the personal service and that this has become too costly for the agency, as the costumers expect low prices.

A moment’s thought will tell you that the advice of reputable travel agent is worth every penny of their costs.....and indeed can actually save you money.

But, nowadays, perception is everything and Mr & Mrs Average reckon they can do better by cruising the internet. It’s a sad, but true, fact.

It is still the exact same product, purchased online through Thomas Cook.

Of course you can buy TC products online.

But with over 500 high street premises to staff, and only 1 in 7 holidaymakers using them. TC were saddled with an insurmountable burden.....on top of the notoriously tight profit margins on package holidays.

And once someone starts trawling the internet for holiday options, they see all the other providers.

The public seems not to value the expertise of a travel agent in arranging their holiday nowadays.

Fortunately I always take out insurance within days of booking so I'm hoping to get my money back, I still want to return but it's a struggle finding direct flights and obviously I need my money back first.

The TC debacle has hit Egypt particularly hard with 25,000 holiday cancellations and a massive unpaid debt for Blue Sky Group

CAIRO (Reuters) – Thomas Cook has dues of 125 million Egyptian pounds ($7.7 million) to local operator Blue Sky Group, Blue Sky’s chairman Hossam al-Shaer said on Monday.

Shaer did not give further details. Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, collapsed last week, sparking a major tourist repatriation effort and a scramble for survival among many of its subsidies.

Blue Sky said last week that 25,000 reservations in Egypt booked up to April 2020 had been canceled, and that it had been expecting 100,000 tourists to visit Egypt via Thomas Cook next year.

https://www.egyptindependent.com/egypt- ... -chairman/

Reporting by Ehab Farouk; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky