Tui to close 48 high street travel agencies

All holidays from the UK are currently illegal, but Britain's biggest holiday company hopes to resume operations on 17 May

Closed to travel: a Tui store in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, in the summer of 2020 (Simon Calder)

Britain’s biggest holiday company is to close another 48 high street travel agencies, affecting 273 staff.

The closures represent 13 per cent of Tui’s UK retail outlets. The company says employees will be offered jobs with the firm elsewhere.

A spokesperson for Tui said: “The travel industry and the British high street are both facing unprecedented pressure. We can therefore confirm that we are proposing to close 48 retail stores.”

The Independent understands that most will be travel agencies in smaller towns, as well as some in larger towns and cities where Tui currently has more than one branch.

Tui’s spokesperson said: “All colleagues at risk of redundancy will be offered roles in other stores where there are vacancies, or in the new homeworking retail and contact centre team. 

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“We want to be in the best position to provide excellent customer service, whether it’s in a high street store, over the telephone or online, and will continue to put the customer at the heart of what we do.

“It is therefore imperative that we make these difficult cost decisions and do our best to look after our colleagues during such unprecedented uncertainty.

“We believe the Covid-19 has only strengthened a change in purchasing habits, with people looking to buy online or wishing to speak with travel experts from the comfort of their own home.”

The Anglo-German firm lost €700m (£600m) in the quarter between October and December 2020.

Its UK operation is currently unable to send holidaymakers away due to non-essential international travel being illegal – with £5,000 fixed penalties threatened for people in England who go to an airport intending to fly away on holiday.

The government’s Global Travel Taskforce is examining possible arrangements for reopening international travel no earlier than 17 May.

Tui hopes to resume operations on that date.