Tapestry Holidays fails
Upmarket, tailor-made tour operator Tapestry Holidays has ceased trading.
The London-based company, which specialised in holidays to Turkey, Greece and Croatia, had 1,500 customers abroad and thousands of forward bookings when it failed.
Managing director and founder Nick Wrightman said: “Myself and my team are all extremely upset and right now our priority is to help our guests and our staff in resort.”
A spokeswoman said the 30 staff were informed this morning and were now busy contacting clients to tell them the news.
Some 5,500 customers were due to travel with the operator this year and 700 in 2007.
A downturn in bookings was due to a number of factors, including the bird flu outbreak in Turkey.
It is believed the company had been the subject of possible acquisitions earlier this year, but none had come to fruition.
An industry source said the operator had been heavily discounting in the peak period and had been offering incentives for customers paying up front.
“This is often a sign that there are cashflow problems,” the source said.
The CAA is currently making arrangements for customers abroad to complete their holiday and return to the UK, and to fully refund those with forward bookings.
The company held an Air Travel Organiser’s License providing a £1.7m bond.
By Bev Fearis
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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