Villas tour operator Meon Villas, part of Tui Group’s Specialist Holidays Group, is to be closed at the end of October.
The villa specialist has not been actively promoted for some time by the group, which also owns tour operators Hayes & Jarvis, Sovereign and Citalia.
Tui this morning confirmed the decision after an email was posted by an agent on Facebook travel agency community page Travel Gossip from Susan Allan, head of trade sales at the Specialist Holiday Group, which said: “The market for villa holidays has changed over the years. We have as a result reviewed our business model and taken the decision to no longer operate the Meon Villas programme post October 2015.
“The outcome has not been taken lightly and we would like to thank you for your support and commitment over the years.”
In a statement, Tui added: “We have seen growth in recent years in the Hotel Villas we feature within the Sovereign programme and have decided that for the future this is where we wish to focus our efforts.
“As a result we have decided to no longer operate the Meon Villas programme after this summer. This decision has not been taken lightly and we would like to thank the trade for their support over the years. “
The operator returned to sell through travel agents in 2007 after reporting more demand for villa product through the trade.
Previously it had ceased trade relations in 2004 to focus on direct sales and differentiate itself from sister company Sovereign Villas.
The villa market is known to have come under pressure from the large-scale growth and popularity of peer-to-peer accommodation from providers such as Airbnb offering private accommodation.
Last summer, villa specialist Villa Parade ceased trading after the collapse of its parent company Air Parade.