One of Britain’s best-loved specialist tour operators announced that it is ceasing trading from the end of this month — forced to the wall by thriving internet competition and low-cost flights.

Laskarina Holidays, which has been sending holidaymakers to off-the-beaten track islands in Greece for 31 years, suffered a slump in sales this summer and this week decided to cancel trips next year.

In recent years, the award-winning company’s annual sales had fallen from a peak of 10,000 to 7,000. Most of its tourists went to the small islands of Halki, Symi, Lipsi, Tilos and Samos — providing vital revenue for local firms.

Its last holidaymakers will return on October 25, at which point Laskarina will go into voluntary liquidation and no further trips will be offered. All holidays up to that date will continue as normal and the 1,200 people who have provided deposits for bookings next year will be refunded.

Ian Murdoch, co-founder of Laskarina, which is expected to make a small loss this year, said: “The UK travel market is so bad that we could expect to make a big loss next year.

“There are so many flights to Greece from so many airports in the UK now, at such competitive prices, that we could not keep up. People can buy low-cost flights from the internet. They can buy their hotel on the internet.

“The market has fragmented — and we’ve been ‘fragged’. Thirty years ago companies like ours could prosper. We’ve stuck to what we know throughout that time. But times have changed and we felt a dignified exit was best. I must admit, after I told the staff, I went home and had a quiet cry.”

Laskarina, which is fully bonded by ATOL and is based in Haywards Heath in West Sussex, employs 32 people, half in the UK and half in Greece.

Murdoch said he will continue to run the website, providing information about local accommodation suppliers so that customers, many of whom have travelled with the company for years, can “book directly if they want”.

He added that he would have liked to continue to offer package holidays to cover the many flights now on offer to Greece, but said that costs would have risen “massively” as more staff would have been required to meet flights and provide boat transfers.

Noel Josephides, director at the Association of Independent Tour Operators, a body that represents 150 small specialist holiday companies, said the closure was “depressing”. “For Greece, Laskarina was, quite simply, the best. They had specialist, hands-on knowledge. They anticipated problems and made sure there were contingency plans. They were creative. They went to places no one else did. They put these places on the map. They supported communities.

“I feel very badly about this. All these internet sales are depressing. The cheapness of it. They have no idea what they’re selling. They have no idea if there is building work near your hotel. It’s the new bucket shop. These dot-com people are selling rubbish. When good companies say ‘we’ve had enough’, it is terrible for the travel industry. But I can understand the commercial decision Laskarina has had to make.”

Details: Laskarina (01444 880353, www.laskarina.co.uk), Aito (www.aito.co.uk).

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