One of the top 15 tour operators in Romania, Mareea, filed for insolvency on Friday, September 2, due to cash-flow issues. About 1,100 of the company’s clients, who had paid for holidays, will not be served, according to Romania’s National Tourism Authority – ANT.

The total value of the contracts that Mareea can’t honor is EUR 460,000, some EUR 285,000 of which are liabilities to suppliers, according to ANT.

Mareea announced its insolvency through a message posted on its website and on Facebook on Saturday. According to the announcement, none of the clients who had holidays booked after September 4 will be served.

The company informed its clients that they can go to local insurer Generali to recover their money. However, the insurance policy that Mareea has with Generali only covers up to USD 50,000 worth of damage claims, according to local News.ro. This means that only a few of the 1,000 clients will be compensated by the insurer.

Mareea’s owner is Romanian investor Marius Usturoiu. He told local Profit.ro that the company’s insolvency has been determined by the weak results on the charter flights this summer and by the 50-60% drop in holidays in Turkey. He promised that he would try to find solutions for the company’s clients who have paid for holidays.

This is the second insolvency case in the local tourism sector. A similar case occurred earlier in August, when local tour operator Genius Travel announced about 100 clients that it couldn’t continue its activity anymore.

These insolvency cases, following which hundreds of clients have been affected, have determined the National Tourism Authority to take action and start working on stricter rules for tour operators. According to a law draft initiated by ANT, the tour operators may be forced to get bigger insurance policies and they may have to keep the clients’ money in a separate account, which they won’t be able to use to pay for operating expenses.

Some 147 customers damaged by Romanian travel agency Genius Travel

editor@romania-insider.com