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TUI Travel cruise calls centre to close
TUI is to close its cruise call centre in Swansea with the loss of 48 jobs.
It said it plans to handle the sales call business through its existing retail shops.
The company will relocate a cruise support function to its head office in Luton where the back office cruise team, which design and manage the cruise business, are based.
It said the decision follows a review of the cruise function.
34 full time roles are from the CruiseDeals sales centre with a further 14 from the Thomson & Island Cruise support team.
The employees affected have been advised and have entered into a 45 day consultation period in order to offer them the opportunity to comment on all proposals.
TUI said it would try to accommodate any staff who wished to switch to a roles within other areas of the business.
The Swansea based payroll function, which is also based at the same office in Mariner Street, Swansea and employs 18 people, is unaffected.
CruiseDeals is a specialist retail agent selling a range of holidays including Thomson & Island Cruises as well as third party cruises. TUI said it will continue to investin the CruiseDeals brand and the website cruisedeals.co.uk will remain.
Its sales calls are proposed to be handled by selected cruise experts based in the Thomson shops across the UK, supported by the company’s Virtual Call Centre technology, said the company.
It said it had heavily invested in specialist cruise training for its retail agents and that it was confident it could maintain its standards of service for cruise customers through its shops.
Kathryn Ward, retail and financial service director said; "This is a difficult decision and the welfare of the employees impacted is our priority. We are committed to working through and validating our proposals with them and then subject to that, ensuring that we consider suitable alternative employment within the organisation whilst maintaining the excellent service our customers expect from us."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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