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STA Travel ‘sends shock wave’ through industry as it ceases trading with closure of 49 agencies STA collapse sees 500 job losses Travel Weekly reporters


Five-hundred staff lost their jobs and 49 travel agencies closed their doors after youth travel specialist STA Travel ceased trading on Friday. STA’s Atol licence was for almost


30,000 passengers but its primary business was as a third-party retailer. Flight-inclusive packages and


refund credit notes are protected under the Atol scheme and scheduled airline tickets by STA’s Iata licence. It also sold packages which did not include flights and are protected by Abta, while holidays it sold as an agent fall under the protection of the relevant tour operators. The Civil Aviation Authority


said it would clarify the number of Atol-protected customers abroad “in due course” and said they “will have tickets for their flight home”. It also said it would work with accommodation providers to maintain bookings on current trips. The failure came after STA Travel’s Swiss parent company


filed for insolvency and appointed administrators on August 19. A statement from STA Travel


UK said: “The global impact of the coronavirus pandemic has brought the travel industry to a standstill. Over recent months, we have taken decisive measures to secure the business


‘The agency was in trouble before Covid’


Ben Ireland


STA Travel was in trouble “long before Covid”, according to a legal advisor to the company. “An awful lot of its business was still


student gap years,” said Alan Bowen of the Association of Atol Companies, of which STA was a member. “Of course, that’s disappeared this


year, but increasingly students haven’t got the money anymore with the fees they pay. STA was in difficulties long


6 27 AUGUST 2020


before Covid-19 and was already looking at cutting costs.” Bowen said STA’s latest accounts, for 2018, showed “decent profits” but noted that “head office had seen last year that things hadn’t grown in the youth market”. He added that while STA sold


other youth operators, it hadn’t managed to pivot to target a young professional market, as other businesses had, because it was so well-known for student travel.


beyond Covid-19. However, sales have not picked up as anticipated due to consumer uncertainties, further restrictions and renewed lockdown measures, which are expected to largely continue into 2021. “Upon reviewing the UK


business, we have been left with


STA’s Clapham store was one of the chain’s 49 outlets


STA’S HISTORY


Q STA Travel was founded by two Australian students in the early 1970s.


Q It was acquired by Diethelm Keller Group in 1979 and opened its first retail store.


Q Swiss parent company STA Travel Holding AG formed part of Diethelm Keller Travel within the Diethelm Keller Group.


Q The STA name, which originally stood for Student Travel Australia, was changed to the Student Travel Association and later to STA Travel.


no choice but to cease trading with immediate effect.” An Abta spokesperson said: “The


news that STA Travel, a long-standing Abta member, has ceased trading will send a shock wave through the industry, bringing to life the very real pressures travel is under.”


STA INSPIRED OUR CAREERS . . .


Industry professionals paid tribute to STA Travel as a brand that inspired them to forge careers in travel.


Q Ant Stone, G Adventures’ marketing director: “I joined STA after backpacking and learnt a lifetime of lessons in nearly seven years with the company.”


Q Clare de Bono, Amadeus’s head of retail customer solutions: “I started my travel career at STA and learnt something new every day. I built a career alongside the strongest and


most dynamic people, and travelled the world – every continent, even Antarctica. Values are important and at STA Travel we shared them in spades. Long hours and hard work, but there was always a sense of fun.”


Q Heather Colbourn, senior sales manager at AAT Kings: “I booked a round-the-world trip with STA in 2006 and was amazed at how knowledgeable the staff were and it led me into a career in travel after I returned. My heart goes out to all the staff affected.”


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURE: Shutterstock


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