Voyager's rescue mission featured in trade press!

Since a previous post about Voyager rescuing 4 school trips from failed operator TJM Travel, we have been featured in the trade press.

The article tells of how Voyager stepped in to save the day in the space of only 24 hours, and made sure every student got the trip they had been longing for.

The article is as follows:

ABTA said four schools had their trips 'dramatically rescued' following the failure of ABTA tour operator TJM Travel last month.

The association said: 'ABTA tour operator Voyager School Travel stepped in to offer the schools the same trips to Tossa de Mar in northen Spain departing only 24 hours after TJM went out of business.

'Voyager School Travel provided the trips safe in the knowledge that the payments made by parents to TJM Travel for their children's holidays were fully protected by ABTA'.

ABTA added that the rescue of the trips was 'a daunting logistical challenge but it was made possible by the expertise on offer from Voyager School Travel and the 100% financial protection offered by ABTA'.

A further 25 schools have been affected by the failure of TJM Travel and they will recieve full refunds, which will enable them to rebook their trips with other ABTA specialist tour operators.

The Gable Hall in Essex, Hayes School Kent, Winterbourne School in Bristol and Wye Vale Bukingham were the four schools affected each of whose parties had paid tens of thousands of pounds to TJM Travel, which was protected by ABTA. 

John de Vial, ABTA head of financial protection, said: 'Any travel company failure is not good news for their costomers but by working together with our member Voyager School Travel I am delighted that we were able to get these four school groups off on their trips. 

'It is a shining example of the important role that ABTA performs in financially protecting over 3m holidays provided each year by ABTA tour operators'.

Nigel English, managing director of Voyager School Trave, said: 'The pressure was certainly on to turn everything around in 24 hours, but Voyager School Travel was happy to do all that we could to help the schools in these difficult circumstances.

'It was great to see that not only does the ABTA bonding system work, but the system is relatively simple and straightforward.'