A British travel company has been forced to close down and has revealed that all holidays booked under its service have been cancelled.
In a shocking twist, Balkan Holidays said it had ceased trading as of April 24, following nearly 60 years of providing trips.
Though travellers currently on their holidays will be able to complete them, anyone with upcoming bookings will instead be made to accept refunds, leaving them scrambling for other routes to their destinations.
Direct customers have been asked to contact the company directly to arrange refunds, but expectant travellers who booked trips via a third party have been told they will need to speak to their travel agent to get their money back.
The company, which offered holidaymakers trips to Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Malta and Northern Cyprus, said it would aim to process refunds as fast as possible, working in order of departure date.
Balkan Holidays was launched nearly six decades ago, and specialised in trips to Bulgaria.
It offered departures from 17 British airports, more than any other UK tour operator. At its peak, it served 130,000 people a year.
But its numbers have dwindled in recent years, with it being licensed to carry just 27,817 Atol-protected passengers in the year to the end of March 2026.
Balkan Holidays was launched nearly 60 years ago, and specialised in trips to Bulgaria (File image of Silistar beach in Bulgaria)
It offered departures from 17 British airports, more than any other UK tour operator. At its peak, it served 130,000 people a year (File of Borsh beach)
It said in a statement on its social media pages and website: ‘We regret to inform you that Balkan Holidays Ltd has, as of 24th of April 2025, closed for business in the UK.
‘The company has not gone into liquidation, however all forward holiday bookings have been cancelled.
‘All clients will be notified and refunded in full.
‘May we kindly ask for patience as we process the refunds and appreciate your understanding.
‘Thank you for your past business and please accept our most sincere apologies for the disappointment and inconvenience.’
The closure of Balkan Holidays comes amid a mass fall of travel agents in recent years.
According to Statista, there were over 4,200 agency shops in March 2019, but that number fell to just 3,500 by June 2023, representing a drop of 18% in the last five years.
Last month, Guernsey-based travel agents Trafalgar Travel shut down after 42 years.
Bosses at the beleaguered agency said the ‘very sad and tough decision’ came about due to rising business costs and the major shift towards online holiday bookings.
‘As you can imagine this has been very difficult for staff at this time, however we all remain 100% committed to ensuring a very smooth transfer of bookings to another agency,’ said manager Charlie Coyle.
Bookings before June 1 will be handled to Trafalgar Travel as usual – while those afterwards will be transferred, the Sun reported.
