Tour company files for bankruptcy and cancel trips, travelers stranded
Veronika Bondarenko
Wed, December 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM EST
3 min read
Amid a larger number of high-profile bankruptcies occurring within weeks of each other this fall, companies that sell holiday packages and tours also struggled at a time when many consumers are holding off on discretionary travel spending.
British tour operators Great Little Escapes and Jetline both shut down operations within weeks of each other in the summer of 2025, while Reykjavik-based Tango Travel could not withstand the shutdown of Play Airlines at the end of September. Since the majority of its tour packages included flights on the now-defunct airline, the holiday company, in a domino effect, closed down operations a month later.
In November, British tour company New Era Travel also had to tell customers that it was closing down and going into liquidation.
AILS Sejours Linguistiques files for bankruptcy, no response on canceled trips
The latest travel agency shutdown is being reported in the Swiss city of Geneva.
According to local outlet Study Travel Magazine, AILS Sejours Linguistiques has stopped trading and filed for bankruptcy at the First Instance Court of the Canton of Geneva back in November.
Related: A national airline cancels all flights for third day in a row, no bankruptcy
The travel company with offices in Switzerland and France organized student exchange and language-learning tours to countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia, among others.
A managing partner from Australia anonymously told Study Travel Magazine that a number of students with booked trips in the coming months were desperately trying to obtain information about the state of the company.
Both individual students and schools had used the company to book tours to foreign countries that are part of their educational program back home.
"Very distressed students who discovered the agency AILS has closed"
"We are dealing with a number of very distressed students who have discovered, through a drip feed of information, that it appears the agency AILS has closed," the managing director said to the outlet. "They have closed owing a very substantial amount of money to schools."
These travel companies went bankrupt in 2025:
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Great Little Escapes: The British travel company filed for bankruptcy after running up losses of £77,000 ($103,000 USD).
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Unitravel Kft: The Budapest-based tour operator blamed "new, foreign companies enter[ing] Hungary with huge financial resources" for a financial breakdown that led to it having to suddenly cancel trips that in some cases were already halfway through.
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MixxTravel: The Malmö-based travel company was forced to cancel trips and wind down operations after being declared bankrupt by a judge in August 2025.
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Tango Travel: The Icelandic tour operator went bust in November 2025 after major partner Play Airlines filed for bankruptcy and stopped operations a month earlier.
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New Era Travel: Ceased operations in November 2025. The Hampshire-based tour operator took British travelers to Spain, Australia, and Las Vegas, among other destinations.
Story Continues
AILS could not be reached for comment and, according to the managing director, has not been responding to calls asking about the status of student trips.
More Travel News:
"The nature of this closure has added significantly to the distress of our students," he explained further.
"There has been no communication from the agency with either the school or their clients, and what was a manageable situation has been allowed to blow out further through the absolute lack of contact from the company over the month since the bankruptcy notice now appears to have been issued."
Related: 90-year-old airport to close down forever amid low traveler numbers
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 10, 2025, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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