HOLIDAY dreams turned to nightmares yesterday with the collapse of the country’s third largest tour operator.
XL Leisure Group went into administration after a rescue package failed leaving the company stranded in deep financial waters. The collapse left staff without jobs, an estimated 85,000 customers stuck abroad and another 200,000 customers in the UK whose holiday arrangements are now in tatters.
The priority is to get home those holidaymakers abandoned when the company filed for administration, to sort out compensation for those who qualify for it under the various ATOL and credit card protection schemes.
It is also a time to reflect on just where our economy is going, on whether that much talked about recession is here rather than approaching and whether we all have come to expect too much, too cheaply.
