Major Travel has shed three jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive linked to the Middle East conflict.
Qasim Gulamhusein, managing director of the trade-only tour operator, said two members of staff lost their jobs at the end of June in addition to a cleaner. One of the employees worked in a sales role, while the other was in a non-sales position.
Gulamhusein said the redundancies were a “real shame” and came as part of a cost-saving target of about 20%.
He added that a considerable portion of the savings was secured by reducing non-staff costs, including moving to more affordable offices. The move to a serviced office has meant the cleaning contract is no longer required.
When the conflict between the US/Israel and Iran broke out on February 28, Major Travel’s business was heavily impacted, Gulamhusein said, with about 30% of bookings travelling to or through the Middle East.
“We had a lot of people stuck in resort because people were still abroad and then obviously the whole Easter period was affected,” he said.
In recent months, the tour operator has been trying to further diversify its offering in an attempt to mitigate the impact of the Middle East challenges.
The number of safari bookings has increased significantly and private escorted tours have been introduced in Italy and India, Gulamhusein said.
While the business was also lifted by the relaxation of the Foreign Office’s travel advice for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it was decided that the headcount would still need to be reduced.
Had it not been for the change in advice, Gulamhusein said additional redundancies could have been required.
He said the resumption of hostility between the US and Iran over the past week was unlikely to materially affect the UAE, adding that the key travel period for the region begins in October.
“It’s really October to April when people travel to the Middle East,” he said, adding: “We’re still seeing bookings for October onwards, because people are expecting it [the conflict] to be sorted either for October half term or for Christmas.”
Planning is still underway for a fam trip in September, with details due to be shared in the coming weeks, while the tour operator’s launch to the UAE market is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
