These days, the news has echoed that one of the largest Greek tour operators, Muzenidis, has gone bankrupt. We hope that it is just a major crisis that they will be able to overcome.

Muzenidis Travel was established in 1995. The agency was launched by a thirty-year-old Boris Muzenidis, who returned from Georgia to his homeland in 1992. He started as a waiter, then as a tourist bus driver. He once heard a friend say that Greece has sun and sea, a sentence he never forgot.

Realizing the beauty of Greece and all it has to offer, he wanted to show these beauties to the Russians, convinced they would be thrilled. And so it was. He bought his own bus and in 1995 founded an agency in the center of Thessaloniki. First, he developed “sun and sea” tourism, then religious, archaeological, and later medical tourism, expanding operations to other former Soviet Union countries. Interestingly, in 2005 Boris Muzenidis was a personal guide to Putin for Greece and Mount Athos.

The Muzenidis group now owns 16 companies, some of the most important being Muzenidis Travel tourist agency, Elinair airline, Grekodom real estate sales and management agency, Bomo club - hotel management company, CSR service - air cargo transportation company, Muzenidis Intour for travels to Russia, and more. They have the largest fleet of transportation vehicles in northern Greece.

Muzenidis currently has around 50 offices in 16 countries and over 1500 employees. In 2019, they sold more than 300,000 package deals (flight plus hotel) and tens of thousands of individual arrangements. Their airline Elinair connected Greek airports with 31 cities abroad through direct flights.

In 2019, around 40,000 tourists from Serbia vacationed under the organization of Muzenidis. An important sector of their business includes Bomo hotels managed by Muzenidis, numbering over 30. Through Muzenidis activities, around 300 million euros entered Greece in 2019, with almost zero banking loans.

However, in 2019, Muzenidis lost 95% of its revenue compared to the previous year. Restrictions imposed by Greece towards Balkan countries and Russia led the companies managed by Muzenidis to a complete collapse.

When you look at such a large company and its collapse, you cannot blame the employees of Muzenidis in Serbia and the other 50 offices. They were just the last link in everything that happened in this great company, whether good or bad. They have been selling quality arrangements for years and working for a powerful, strong, successful, responsible, and professional company.

We hope that all those affected will be able to recover at least part of their funds or even better, that they will somehow be allowed to vacation in alternative hotels, and that Muzenidis agencies, with the help of the Greek government, will survive despite everything. It would be a real shame if Muzenidis is remembered for its bankruptcy rather than its successes.