THE
Specialist Holidays Group is to sell Jersey Travel Service and the Guernsey
Travel Service brands as it focuses on its overseas programme.
Rival
Channel Islands operator Preston Holidays will acquire the brands at the end of
the summer. SHG managing director Kevin Ivie was confident staff employed by
both brands, based in Kingston in Surrey, would be found alternative jobs
within the group. There are thought to be about 20 staff affected, mostly from
reservations.
“I
do not think there will be any redundancies. There is a shortage of good
quality reservations staff and we want to hold on to them,” he said.
Ivie
said the sale was part of a drive by SHG to concentrate on its overseas
portfolio. “They do not provide the opportunities for growth or synergies with
the overseas operations.”
Preston
Holidays has secured a deal with Lunn Poly to continue distributing the brands
through the Thomson chain. It has pledged to keep the brands operating under
their existing names.
Marketing manager Jo-Ann Canevali said: “We are
committed to promoting the Channel Islands. This is an excellent opportunity
for us.”