A longstanding North East cruise holiday company has ceased trading following the pandemic's blow to the industry.
Bedlington based Northumbria Travel closed this week after 38 years of booking cruises across the world, citing cash flow issues caused by unprotected commission from its main supplier.
Beryl Gibson and her daughter Jane ran the business which is now up for sale by North East business rescue and insolvency specialists Northpoint Associates.
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In an email to customers, the firm spoke of its "huge amount of heartache" and thanked customers, including many who had voluntarily asked the firm not to discount throughout the last two years.
The email said: "The entire team at Northumbria Travel have worked tirelessly over the last two years to ensure your bookings with us were either transferred to future dates or in the event of cancellations we refunded all monies to you as soon as we received them from the cruise lines.
"Our priority throughout has been providing you with the best possible service.
"However, our main supplier was unfortunately in the group of cruise lines who decided not to protect our commission since the start of the pandemic, and whilst I do wish to thank and acknowledge the cruise lines who did protect commissions and support us through the last difficult years these companies were in the minority, and that has eventually resulted with cash flow issues and the cessation of trade.
"We are to negotiate with other local travel providers with similar customer focus over the next week or so, to establish whether there is an opportunity for them to take over the bookings and provide a similar excellent service that we have always strived to achieve.
"We will contact you further, on or before March 11 2022, if we are successful in this regard. You will obviously have the opportunity to ask not to be transferred if you so wish.
"Thank you all for the last 38 years of support. I really can’t find the words to express our gratitude sufficiently."
Greg Whitehead of Northpoint Associates said: “This a classic case of a good, established SME business that has been pulled down by Covid without being able to emerge from the other end.
"To the right party, there is a solid customer base and existing order book that could have real value in the right hands."
Northumbria Travel was fully ATBA bonded, meaning it was protected from financial failure by bond. However, the firm said all deposits and balances from customers had been forwarded to cruise lines and did not envisage claims from ATBA would be necessary.
The firm said that in the unlikely event this was required, customers should telephone ABTA on 0203 117 0599 and use Northumbria Travel's ABTA number: 77178.
The business was a founding member of Advantage, the largest independent travel agency group in then UK, and was accredited by retirement group U3A, and Rotary due to excellent customer feedback.
