Minister Angelkova has had a meeting with Peter Fankhauser, CEO of the Thomas Cook Group, and Björn Samström, Chief Commercial Manager of the tour operator company

It is expected that the total number of tourists in Bulgaria from all markets of the Thomas Cook Group will exceed 200 ths this summer, which is an increase by 34% compared to 2015. This growth should be maintained in the next summer season and the total number of tourists is expected to reach 250 ths, which will be an absolute record for the tour operator since the start of its operations in the Bulgarian market. This became clear in a meeting of Minister Angelkova with Peter Fankhauser, CEO of the Thomas Cook Group, and Björn Samström,  Chief Commercial Manager of the company.

”Our partnership with big tour operators like Thomas Cook is of great importance and I am pleased that such good results have been achieved for a short time, said Minister Angelkova. She emphasized that during this season Bulgaria has strengthened its position as one of the most preferred destinations in the region with serious increases from a number of markets. Germany is one of the largest markets and around 125 thousand German tourists are expected this summer from the Thomas Cook Group programmes, as it became clear during the meeting.

Peter Fankhauser underlined that it is crucial for Bulgaria to further guarantee the quality of the tourist product and increase the investments for improvement of the facilities. Various opportunities were discussed for trainings of the personnel in the tourism sector by representatives of the Thomas Cook company.

Peter Fankhauser is at the highest managerial level in the Thomas Cook Group and manages a company with over 22,000 employees worldwide. In 2015, Thomas Cook had more than 20 mln customers and their annual turnover exceeds 7.8 bln Euro. This makes them one of the leading tour operators globally with business activity in 15 countries.