Cairo – Mubasher: The impact of the bankruptcy of the UK tour operator Thomas Cook on Orascom Development Egypt’s operations is expected to be immaterial, the Egyptian firm said.
The effect is forecast to be minimal on the short term as the company will “fill the hotels’ rooms up with other tour operators,” according to a statement to the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) on Tuesday.
In December 2018, Orascom Development Egypt signed a deal with Thomas Cook through its hotel subsidiary Orascom Hotels Management (OHM) “to rebrand Arena Inn, El Gouna's 144-room hotel to become a Cook's Club Hotel and develop a new 100-room hotel under the name of Casa Cook,” the statement added.
The Egyptian firm confirmed that it has “already collected the upfront payments from the company for these hotels and that [they are finalising] the construction of the new 100 room hotel planned to be operational in October,” the company revealed.
Out of Orascom Development Egypt’s portfolio of 7,082 rooms, the deal with Thomas Cook involves 244 rooms that make up 1.4% of El Gouna hotels’ revenues, which is 1.2% of Orascom Development Egypt’s hotels’ revenues and 0.8% of ODH hotels’ revenues.
