US travel firm Far&Wide collapses

Big-name US tour operator Far&Wide has gone bust, saying it was a casualty of the “unprecedented calamity” that has hit the world’s travel industry.

Far&Wide is the parent company of 20 well known travel companies. At least ten of these are now trying to buy back ownership so that they can continue to operate. These include Swain Australia Tours, African Travel, Pacific Bestours, Adventure Center, Lion World Tours, Intercontinental Travel Co, IST Cultural Tours, Journeys Unlimited, Regina Tours and High Country Passage.

The company blamed its collapse on the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the build up to and war with Iraq, the SARS epidemic and economic downturn. It said together these problems had “drastically reduced international leisure travel and turned upside down previously predictable and reliable booking and travel patterns.”

It said these factors had made it unable to survive a “sudden and recent unexpected liquidity crunch” – which was ironic given now that the market seemed finally to be improving.

The company recorded sales revenues of $350 million in 2000 and predicted that sales this year would have been half that amount – around $175million.