The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodation, which includes the Lanzarote Asolan employers' association, has entrusted its legal services with initiating legal action before the competition authorities, both national and European, to file a complaint "for illegal practices carried out by the tour operator Thomas Cook (UK)".
Last August, Spanish hoteliers received telephone notices from the area delegates of Thomas Cook (UK), announcing a unilateral, unagreed discount of 5 percent of the August and September billing of this year. The reason given by the British tour operator for unilaterally applying this discount was to be able to cope with the substantial losses caused by the Icelandic volcano, losses that seriously affected Thomas Cook's solvency and results.
From the outset, Cehat and Asolan expressed their strongest opposition to this demand, as it unilaterally broke the contractual conditions and represented a serious precedent for the Spanish hotel industry. It should not be forgotten that Thomas Cook holds a dominant position within the British market, the leading market in terms of foreign tourism to Spain.
Given "the seriousness" of the events and since Thomas Cook has proceeded to make these unilateral and unagreed discounts to many Spanish hoteliers, Cehat, after a meeting held this Friday in Madrid, attended by the presidents of the most affected tourist areas (Benidorm, Costa del Sol, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza) have decided to initiate legal actions against the British tour operator.
Rectification
Cehat has appealed "to the rigor and seriousness" of Thomas Cook, "so that it rectifies its action and can continue to maintain the good commercial relationship that exists to date".
For its part, Asolan will inform the associates of these actions during the extraordinary assembly that will take place next Tuesday, October 19, at 5:00 p.m., in the halls of the El Fondeadero Center, in Puerto del Carmen.
As is known, British tourism, from where this tour operator operates, is the most important in terms of places for the tourist destination Lanzarote. 50 percent of the tourists who annually enjoy their vacations on the island of volcanoes come from the United Kingdom and Ireland.
