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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Business
Emma Munbodh

Tui to shut 48 more travel agent stores with 273 retail jobs at risk

Tui is set to permanently shut 48 more branches in the UK, affecting 273 jobs.

The move follows the closure of 166 travel agent stores at the height of the pandemic last July, when the company confirmed 900 employees faced redundancy.

In a statement, TUI said newly at risk staff would be redeployed where possible, while others could be moved into home-working roles. The company blamed the shift to online bookings amongst its reasons for the closures.

Tui will have 314 retail stores remaining following the closures.

The firm said in a statement: "The travel industry and the British High Street are both facing unprecedented pressure.

"We can therefore confirm that we are proposing to close 48 retail stores. All colleagues at risk of redundancy will be offered roles in other stores where there are vacancies, or in the new homeworking retail and contact centre team."

Tui said it was "imperative that we make these difficult cost decisions and do our best to look after our colleagues during such unprecedented uncertainty."

It added that the Covid-19 pandemic has strengthened a change in shopping habits, "with people looking to buy online or wishing to speak with travel experts from the comfort of their own home."

"We have world class travel advisors at Tui, so we hope many of them will become homeworkers and continue to offer the personalised service we know our customers value," the firm added.

Tui declined to share a list of which outlets were set to close, but said that it would be creating 290 roles.

The holiday firm said in February that it expects to run 80% of its normal capacity for this summer, with 2.8million bookings already confirmed.

It comes after British Airways and easyJet were accused of cancelling holidays scheduled for July and August amid rising Covid cases in Europe.

Under Boris Johnson's plans, travel is set to resume on May 17 - however ministers have warned it is "too early" to discuss whether the date could be pushed back.

TUI’s sales fell 87.8% in the three months to the end of 2020, from £3.4billion to £404million.

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