Published on Friday, May 15, 2020

Tour operators cease trading due to coronavirus

A Welsh tour operator specialising in school and sports trips has ceased trading after 16 years.

On Tour Travel was based in Merthyr Tydfil and traded under the website www.ontourtravel.co.uk.

Director Hugo Morgan confirmed to TravelMole that the failure was due to the coronavirus pandemic but said he preferred not to comment further.

The company put together trips for schools and student groups, sports clubs and adult groups, from rugby supporters tours to church pilgrimages.

"We have arranged tours to destinations throughout Europe and beyond taking our clients to destinations such as a short visit to Disneyland Paris to the life changing experience of how students live and learn in a South African township," says its website.

Many of its flights and flight-inclusive holidays were protected by the ATOL scheme, but not all.

The CAA said it was currently collating information from the company and will email ATOL protected consumers with details on how they may make a claim.

Meanwhile in Scotland, 110 people have lost their jobs due to the collapse of hotel and tour operator David Urquhart Group.

Half the jobs are in its coach tour business, David Urquhart (Travel) Ltd, and the rest are in its three Hart Hotels properties.

It said all customers' funds are safe and it will begin refunding them as soon as possible.

A statement on its website says: "The ongoing coronavirus crisis has had a dramatic impact on all business sectors, but especially on those within the travel and tourism industry.

"The directors have been carefully considering these matters and have made the decision, in the absence of acquisition from interested parties, to wind up the coach tour business in an orderly manner over the next few months.

"This is not a decision which has been taken lightly. The coach tour company has served loyal customers for more than 37 years, throughout the length and breadth of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and has been a prominent figure within the leisure and hospitality industry."

A similar notice on its hotel website says: "Our hotel company has welcomed loyal customers for many years to the Cowal peninsula and to the Highlands and has been a prominent figure within the Scottish leisure and hospitality industry."

A separate part of the company, David Urquhart Sky Travel, which sells package holidays, cruises and European city breaks, is unaffected and remains in business.

The failures come less than a week after ATOL-holder Enjoy Travel ceased trading blaming 'the savage destruction meted out to the travel and entertainment industries'.

The Blackburn-based company, founded in 1989, organised dance and music holidays, mainly to Spain, under the names Enjoy Travel and Costa del Folk.