Neilson announces redundancies
Neilson Active Holidays is to make up to 28 people redundant – nearly a third of staff at its Brighton head office.
Chief executive David Taylor has briefed all staff on the need for the changes, saying they were necessary to combat the impact of Covid-19.
Taylor told TravelMole: "The impact of Covid-19 has been worse than any of us could have imagined, leading to a total shutdown across the travel sector.
"My team has responded magnificently to this crisis as we have dealt with the repatriation of thousands of customers in March and subsequently cancelling, rearranging and refunding the bookings of thousands more.
"Many staff working through this crisis have taken pay cuts and many more staff have been patiently waiting at home whilst on furlough with their fingers crossed that this crisis will pass.
"We have taken decisive action over the last few months to safeguard the future of Neilson and try and avoid the need to lose colleagues, but the impact of the pandemic will see such a severe downturn in business during 2020 that job losses are unavoidable."
He said the management has been open and honest with staff from the moment the crisis broke about the challenges the business was facing.
"We are a close knit family at Neilson and I am fortunate to have one of the best teams in travel delivering award winning holidays, which makes the decision even more painful as it will lead to the loss of not just colleagues but friends as well."
The news comes days after Kuoni confirmed redundancies but refused to disclose how many jobs were at risk. It had made 70 staff redundant at the start of the Covid-19 lockdown but then brought them back under the Government’s furlough scheme.
As the first furlough scheme comes to a close, more travel companies are expected to lay off staff due to the impact of the pandemic on the sector.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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