Marmaris Icmeler Holidays ruined
Marmaris and Icmeler holidays ruined again by Goldtrail Travel Agents, leaving many bookings cancelled all over the Turkey and Greece. Greece and Turkey holidays in ruins, with air travel regulator the Civil Aviation Authority working to fly 16,000 back to UK.Tens of thousands of British holidaymakers face missing out on their summer travel plans following the collapse of Goldtrail, a cut-price tour operator.
Air travel regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that Goldtrail Travel Ltd, which specialises in low-cost holidays to Greece and Turkey, went into administration at about 4pm yesterday, leaving an estimated 16,000 people overseas.
It is thought that as many as 50,000 people who have booked flights over the summer will be affected. In a statement issued on website last night the aviation regulator said: “The CAA has taken steps to protect customers booked with Goldtrail Travel Limited after the company ceased trading this evening.
“The CAA, under its ATOL scheme, is making arrangements for customers abroad to travel home at the end of their holidays.”
The majority of flights home from Turkey would operate as normal, the CAA said. But holidaymakers in Greece were warned to expect changes to flights and advised to check with representatives at local airports.
Aviation and media expert Julian Bray said: “Customers who have paid over £100 of the total invoice price by credit, ie not debit, card may be in a better position to recover some of monies paid to Goldtrail, otherwise customers will be subject to the administration process and could well wait some two years or more for a partial or full payment under travel industry bonding arrangements.”
Goldtrail specialised in cheap holidays to Turkey including popular resorts such as Marmaris and Bodrum. More than 300 holidaymakers bound for Turkey were stranded at Glasgow airport after the company’s collapse.
Last night 180 passengers checked in for an 8.45pm flight to the Turkish resort of Bodrum and around three hours later learned it had been cancelled. A second charter flight due to leave at 9.30am today carrying a similar humber of holidaymakers was also cancelled.
An airport spokesman predicted the disruption for passengers would be limited. “Turkey is very well served from Scotland and there are lots of holiday companies that can step in.”
But the company’s collapse is likely to raise fresh questions about the state of the UK package holiday industry.
Although leisure analysts said the company’s failure was not on the scale of the XL collapse in September 2008, which left 60,000 holidaymakers stranded abroad, there are concerns other travel companies are at risk.
At a travel industry conference this year, Chris Photi, partner at accountancy firm White Hart Associates, warned more collapses were likely. “I think we’ll see quite a spate in September and October,” Photi said. “The intangible is the volume of cash available and how badly that dents businesses.”
Andy Cohen of the CAA told the same conference: “I am expecting to see a large number of failures this year – mainly small businesses but one or two in the lower end of the medium-sized companies too.”
There had been rumours for several months that Goldtrail was not doing well.
On the Travelweekly website yesterday one travel agent said he had told his staff to stop selling Goldtrail holidays last year. “I was not prepared to put my clients at risk – this was on the cards for a while,” the agent wrote. “Rubbish service and quite often way too cheap prices. When will we ever learn?”
One commentator on the website suggested Goldtrail’s collapse was all but inevitable. “It is customers looking for bargains, cheaper and cheaper, that are pushing tour operators to reduce their profit margins to nil or below. If the flight costs £200 how do customers expect an all inclusive seven-night holiday for £189? It is about time for holidaymakers to start making the right choices based on quality and on reputation, and definitely not on price.”
Goldtrail customers can call the CAA on 0203 441 0846 for the latest information.
