COACH specialist Leger Holidays has been forced to abandon a millennium programme to Disneyland Paris after receiving only a handful of hotel rooms from the theme park.
The operator, which is the preferred coach operator to Disneyland, said the allocationwas too small to justify aprogramme.
Speaking at the launch of its 1999/2000 brochure to Disneyland, managing director Ian Henry predicted it would pick up the lost business in the pre-Christmas festivities.
He added Leger is looking for consolidation in 1999/2000 after record sales last year of 100,000.
“We have launched four months earlier than usual to pick up the early bookings for the pre-Christmas market,” he said. “We usually have a new year programme to Disneyland but the allocation this year was just too small.
“Many of the city hotels are also unsure whether they are going to open so we decided just to walk away from the millennium as far as Disney is concerned.”
Henry stressed there was no bitterness towards Disney over the room allocations.
However, he did criticise Lunn Poly and Going Places who he said are ignoring the operator in favour of in-house Disneyland products.
“I don’t believe the public are getting a choice. They are not being given the option of visiting Disneyland Paris by coach,” said Henry.
“Sales through some of the multiples have dropped by 20% because of the level of directional selling.”
Meanwhile, Henry said the operator will target the shoulder season in February, March and April and is looking to increase volume with lower prices.
Prices lead in at £290 for a family of four staying two nights at the on-site Disney Santa Fe in January.