Amathus UK has reassured travel agents that the Amathus Holidays brand will begin trading again in the near future under a new licence agreement.
The company is in talks to licence Amathus Holidays to another tour operator following last week’s failure of Preston Travel Group.
Preston Travel Group had a trademark licence agreement to operate the Amathus Holidays brand, which is owned by Amathus UK.
It had held the licence since November 2005 although the Greek and Cyprus specialist has been operating out of the UK since 1963.
Since Preston Travel’s failure, the agreement has been terminated and all rights relating to the brand name have returned to Amathus UK.
Andreas Vasiliou, managing director of Amathus UK, which in Cyprus owns and manages luxury hotels as part of Amathus Public, said he was already in talks with two Abta members interested in buying the licence to operate the brand.
“I am confident that very soon we will have the brand operating again in the UK,” he said. “I have now had discussions with two companies which have shown an interest in the brand and we are evaluating these. We hope to complete an agreement in the next couple of days.”
Vasiliou said he was keen to clarify the situation after receiving numerous calls from concerned agents following the collapse of Preston Travel.
“Unfortunately we had no warning of the collapse of Preston Travel Group so it came as a surprise to us too,” he added. “We have spoken to a number of agents to clarify the situation and our intention is to send a letter out to agents from the new company.”