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All Leisure group, the privately owned British company that owns boutique cruise brands Swan Hellenic, Voyages of Discovery, has collapsed, Travel Weekly reports, adding that chairman Roger Allard blamed a perfect storm of geopolitical events for what had happened.
Written by Kari Reinikainen (cruisebusiness.com)
“The lines currently have 400 passengers overseas, all of whom will be repatriated by the CAA. The lines also have 7,000 forward bookings with 13,000 passengers affected, according to Abta,” the report said.
Roger Allard, chairman, was quoted as saying: “Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery dealt in cruises for more mature guests to cultural and iconic destinations like the eastern Mediterranean, North Africa and the Black Sea where there are lots of sights.”
“But increasingly over the last few years, since the Arab Spring, it has been increasingly difficult to operate to these areas, either because of Foreign Office advice or a dampening of demand from consumers to travel to certain areas where we specialised.
This is the first time that a cruise operator has gone out of business because of the events around the Mediterranean region in the past half a decade. The event highlights the fact that the operating environment of the cruise industry has become far more challenging in the past few years due to geopolitical events, mainly in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, and points out that similar kinds of developments elsewhere can also have far-reaching consequences.
Both Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery are destinational brands that included excursions to their cruise fares. They also had speakers on board their ships that ranged from diplomats to scientists and scholars.
Swan Hellenic’s Minerva and Voyages of Discovery’s Voyager are both small vessels, well under 20,000 gross tons both. They operated mainly open-ended fly cruise itineraries. This kind of model of operations allowed the brands to offer exciting itineraries, but it also meant high costs, because operations could not be centred in a single location.
Editor Note: Discover the World, which acts for All Leisure Group in Australia, said it was advising people to contact their travel agents, insurance companies or banks.
All Leisure group, the privately owned British company that owns boutique cruise brands Swan Hellenic, Voyages of Discovery, has collapsed, Travel Weekly reports, adding that chairman Roger Allard blamed a perfect storm of geopolitical events for what had happened.
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| MV Voyager |
“The lines currently have 400 passengers overseas, all of whom will be repatriated by the CAA. The lines also have 7,000 forward bookings with 13,000 passengers affected, according to Abta,” the report said.
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| Chairman Roger Allard, paid £301,000 in 2015. |
“But increasingly over the last few years, since the Arab Spring, it has been increasingly difficult to operate to these areas, either because of Foreign Office advice or a dampening of demand from consumers to travel to certain areas where we specialised.
This is the first time that a cruise operator has gone out of business because of the events around the Mediterranean region in the past half a decade. The event highlights the fact that the operating environment of the cruise industry has become far more challenging in the past few years due to geopolitical events, mainly in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, and points out that similar kinds of developments elsewhere can also have far-reaching consequences.
Both Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery are destinational brands that included excursions to their cruise fares. They also had speakers on board their ships that ranged from diplomats to scientists and scholars.
Swan Hellenic’s Minerva and Voyages of Discovery’s Voyager are both small vessels, well under 20,000 gross tons both. They operated mainly open-ended fly cruise itineraries. This kind of model of operations allowed the brands to offer exciting itineraries, but it also meant high costs, because operations could not be centred in a single location.
Editor Note: Discover the World, which acts for All Leisure Group in Australia, said it was advising people to contact their travel agents, insurance companies or banks.
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