Romanian tour operator Cocktail Holidays reportedly close to insolvency

Several travel agencies in Romania have been accusing tour operator Cocktail Holidays of not making the necessary payments to hotels for several stays in Spain, Greece, and Cyprus, and say they will now have to pay for the packages, according to information published on a tourism group, also confirmed by the director of the affected agency.

Contacted by Hotnews.ro, representatives of the Ministry of Economy said they are aware of the situation and have convened a crisis cell.

Representatives of Cocktail Tourism were not available for comments, but issued a press release announcing “temporary cash flow problems caused by the difficult economic conditions."

"We inform tourists, service providers and intermediary agencies that we are going through a difficult period caused mainly by the degraded economic situation of the business environment. We are facing a temporary financial blockage and are making all necessary efforts to restore the company's activity as soon as possible," the company’s owner, Dan Goicea, said.

The industry’s professional association admitted the problem.

"There were about 40 or so people on Cyprus, there were about 30 on Tenerife and Rhodes. I don't think more than 400-500 people are affected.[...] What people who paid money and who will not have services have to do is ask for insolvency and bankruptcy insurance. The problem is that this insurance, for 10 years or since it has been operating, does not cover the full amount. It has never covered the full amount. And this is one of the gaps that we wanted to solve," ANAT president Alin Burcea said.

(Photo source: Anyaberkut/Dreamstime.com)