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Accessible Travel to close
Accessible Travel and Leisure is to close down, with managing director Andy Wright saying it is becoming increasingly difficult for small tour operators.
No more reservations are being taking, but current bookings will continue to be handled.
A statement on the company’s website says: "It is with great sadness I advise you that after more than 30 years working in the travel sector, 20 of which have been in accessible tourism, I have now decided not to produce a programme for 2019 onwards.
"The reasons are mainly personal, as the company is financially secure, and all existing bookings will be managed through to their completion."
Wright goes on to say it is ‘increasingly difficulty for smaller specialist tour operators endeavouring to provide high-quality service, whilst at the same time trying to compete with some of the global travel companies who now have a virtual monopoly on much of the accessible accommodation overseas’.
He adds: "The cost of managing a programme such as ours, along with complex financial and administrative rules and regulations, increases every year. As well as the fact that at my stage in life, it is more of a physical challenge for me to run a business, than it was 30 years ago. These factors have contributed to my decision, to now take a step back and retire."
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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