Spear Travels has taken over the forward bookings and database of Strachan Travel in Thornton Cleveleys in Blackpool.
The agency, founded in 1978, will close on Thursday, with its Abta number and membership of The Advantage Travel Partnership transferred to Spear Travels.
Branch manager Karen Smith has been taken on and will work from home to run the business under the Spear Travels brand. She will work four days a week with support from staff from the agency’s Stoke branch for the other two days a week and during annual leave.
One other employee, who was part-time, had already decided to leave the business.
Smith’s husband Duncan was director of Strachan Travel but was not involved in the running of the agency. His father set up the business 46 years ago.
Group managing director Peter Cookson described Strachan Travel as a “really successful, profitable business” turning over around £3 million a year. However, the agency had struggled to recruit more staff in the area over the last two years to help Smith run the shop.
He said: “This has meant this was the only option. We look forward to welcoming Karen to our Spear Travels’ family and are excited for the future of our new Blackpool ‘online branch’!”
Cookson said staffing problems was a familiar problem for travel agencies and said Smith had been working 12 hour days seven days a week to keep the business going and had considered winding the business up.
“It seemed such a shame to let it go, so we managed to work out a solution for them,” he said. “I have lost count of the number of travel agencies we have turned down recently with the same staffing problems; a real sign of the times.”