TOUR operator Complete Caribbean has gone into administration, blaming internal issues.
The upmarket specialist ceased trading on Tuesday and the company is now in the hands of administrator Begbies Traynor, which is seeking a buyer for the assets.
The operator has four customers overseas and 350 forward bookings. Sales and marketing director Chris Edwards said sales for 2007 were up 8% on last year thanks to strong winter bookings.
However, internal difficulties stopped new investors from rescuing the operator and left it unable to renew its ATOL licence.
Edwards also said it had become increasingly difficult to attract customers in the low season.
“The growing competition and the perceived threat of the hurricane season were making things worse during the summer,” he added.
Spa Travel, based in Boston Spa, had 60,000 worth of forward bookings with Complete Caribbean. Partner Paul Dayson said: “It’s unfortunate as it was a good operator and we did a lot of bookings and got some high-value sales.”
Hayes and Jarvis recently pulled capacity out of the Caribbean in favour of the Far East. Managing director Clare Tobin said: “The Caribbean is a difficult destination as there are a lot of strong players running programmes.
“With the arrival of more airlines in the Caribbean it was also getting harder to make the same returns that we might have had made three or four years ago.”