Yesterday a Spanish tour operator went bust. In the early hours of this morning XL Airlines, third largest tour operator in the UK went bust, leaving 67,000 passengers stranded!

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7611639.stm

XL had an additional fuel bill of $80 million, the banks would no longer bail them out. This morning they were declared bankrupt. 15,000 out of their 17,000 staff, have of today lost their jobs.

Low exchange rate pound sterling to the euro, high cost of fuel, lack of credit due to credit crisis, Spain, Germany and UK heading into recession. Several more companies which have large debt and are struggling are expected to go bust. Olympic Holidays, who last year did not have sufficient aircraft, could be next. Many in the business are surprised Olympic is still in business.

 http://english-cyprus.indymedia.org/newswire/display/770/index.php

A couple of weeks ago, two airlines went bust, one of which was Zoom Airlines, before that a business airline went bust. In total, two dozen airlines and travel companies have gone into liquidation this year.

A Welsh Male Voice Choir who booked for a tour of Canada, lost 50,000 when Zoom went bust. They then re-booked with XL!

XL say they could use their planes to bring back their passengers, but are not being allowed to by the authorities, leaving 67,000 passengers stranded.

The travel industry is in meltdown.