Major UK Travel Company forced to close immediately – canceled with all future holidays

A British Travel Company is forced to close and has revealed that all vacations booked under his service have been canceled.

In a shocking turn, Balkan Holidays said that it had stopped acting on 24 April, after almost 60 years of providing travel.

Although travelers can currently complete on their holidays, everyone with upcoming bookings will be made instead to accept refunds, so that they climb to other routes to their destinations.

Direct customers were asked to contact the company directly to arrange reimbursements, but prospective travelers who have booked trips through a third party has been told that they have to talk to their travel agent to get their money back.

The company, which left holidaymakers to Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Malta and North Cyprus, said it would be to process reimbursements as soon as possible, working in order of departure date.

Balkan Holidays was launched almost six decades ago and specialized in travel to Bulgaria.

It offered departure from 17 British airports, more than any other British tour operator. At its peak, it served 130,000 people a year.

But the figures have fallen in recent years, with a permit to wear only 27,817 atol-protected passengers in the year until the end of March 2026.

Balkan Holidays was launched almost 60 years ago and specialized in travel to Bulgaria (file image of Silistar Beach in Bulgaria)

It offered departure from 17 British airports, more than any other British tour operator. At the peak it served 130,000 people per year (file of Borsh Beach)

It said in a statement on his social media pages and website: ‘We regret that Balkan Holidays Ltd has been closed for business in the UK from 24 April 2025.

‘The company did not go into liquidation, but all forward holiday bookings have been canceled.

‘All customers are informed and fully repaid.

‘May we kindly ask for patience while we process the refunds and appreciate your understanding.

“Thank you for your earlier things and please accept our most sincere apologies for the disappointment and discomfort.”

The closure of Balkan party days is amid a massive fall of travel agents in recent years.

According to Statista, there were more than 4,200 office shops in March 2019, but that number fell to only 3,500 in June 2023, which represented a decrease of 18% in the past five years.

Last month the Trafalgar Travel travel agencies established in Guernsey was closed after 42 years.

Bosses of the besieged agency said that the ‘very sad and difficult decision’ came about due to the rising operating costs and the large shift to online holiday bookings.

“As you can imagine, this has been very difficult for the staff at the moment, but we all remain 100% dedicated to guarantee a very smooth transfer of bookings to another agency,” said Charlie Coyle manager.

Bookings before 1 June are treated to Trafalgar Travel as usual – while they will be transferred afterwards, the sun reported.