Travel company collapses reach lowest level for a decade
Travel company failures have reached their lowest level for 10 years as tour operators have reacted to the grim economic climate by chopping capacity and matching supply to demand.
In its annual report, the Air Travel Insolvency Protection Advisory Committee (ATIPAC) said there were just 11 failures in the last year compared with 23 in 2011/12.
This was the lowest level since 2003 and the total cost to the Air Travel Trust is expected to be only £843,744 compared with a total pay-out of more than £14 million the previous year.
Only two of the failed companies had customers overseas and only 37 – all customers of Enjoy Holidays -had to be repatriated. A further 1,354 customers who were due to travel with failed operators were refunded.
Enjoy Holidays, which collapsed last August, was the biggest drain on the Air Travel Trust, costing an estimated £343,000, followed by Travel Serenity which cost £140,000 when it went under last June and Global Enduro which cost £136,000.
TD Europe cost £90,000, Travellers Cities cost the Air Travel Trust £88,000, Tana Consultants £13,000 and Bowen Travel £3,000.
ATIPAC said: "The performance of the travel industry has been remarkably stable in the context of the overall economic backdrop and problems in key Eurozone destinations.
"Nevertheless, the overall trading environment has been difficult and profitability has remained low.
"ATOL holders took steps to match the number of holidays against the demand for holidays and coupled with the poor weather in the UK this created a relatively good summer for bookings."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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