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Abta to reimburse 4,000 All Leisure Group clients by next month

More than 4,000 All Leisure Group customers who booked cruise‑only with the failed operator will be paid out by Abta within six weeks, the association has confirmed.

The Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery parent collapsed last week leaving 13,000 customers with forward bookings having to reclaim their money.

Flight-inclusive package clients are covered by Atol but 4,200 passengers had booked UK-departing cruise-only holidays from an Abta-bonded agent or direct with the operator.

An Abta spokeswoman told Travel Weekly the All Leisure bond would cover all claims.

“We will be starting to make payments this week and anticipate the process will take four to six weeks,” she said. “People who booked direct and through a third party are covered by the Abta bond.”

Confirmation of All Leisure’s collapse came on Wednesday last week, ending mounting speculation about the firm. It had previously offloaded a number of its brands, including Discover Egypt and Hebridean Island Cruises, and cancelled January cruise departures over Christmas.

Last week it was also confirmed that tour brands Travelsphere and Just You were sold to G Adventures by administrator Grant Thornton in a pre-pack deal. This guaranteed to keep its Market Harborough offices open for a year and saved 200 jobs. G Adventures has yet to comment since the deal.

However, 50 employees were made redundant, together with most of the company’s 100 cruise operation staff including crew.

Andy Cohen, head of Atol at the CAA, said: “The Atol scheme exists for exactly this kind of situation and we are making immediate arrangements so all Atol-protected customers can claim full refunds.

“We are also arranging for a small number of people overseas to return home at no extra cost, meaning no one will be stranded.”

Administrator Eddie Williams, of Grant Thornton, blamed the “adverse financial position” of All Leisure’s cruise operations for its collapse. He said: “The cruise operations have been significantly loss-making over a number of years and the ongoing cost of funding them by the two tour brands has created significant cash issues for the entire group.”

Rival cruise lines Cosmos Tours, Saga, Tauck, Fred Olsen and Cruise & Maritime Voyages targeted All Leisure customers in the wake of the collapse offering special deals.

CMV said it had to fully staff its reservations department on Friday and Saturday to cope with demand but there were no plans to extend a 10% discount beyond January 16.

At a glance: All Leisure failure in numbers
7,000: Number of forward bookings
13,000: Number of passengers with forward bookings
4,200: Number of cruise-only bookings bonded by Abta
50: Number of jobs lost in the UK (plus 100 in maritime operations)
200: Number of jobs saved at Market Harborough headquarters
£20m: Amount Abta has paid in claims in last 10 years

All Leisure Holidays Ltd financial performance for the year to October 31, 2015
£62.6m: Revenue
£3m: Loss after tax
£2.2m: Reduction in cruise revenue, excluding £4.3 million for sale of ship Discovery
17,758: Number of cruise passengers
£3,437: Average revenue per cruise passenger
1,284: Number of tour operator customers
£1,373: Average revenue per tour operator customer

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