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New owner from Down Under for Lynn coach firm
Outside Harrison Holidays LtoR - Jamie Playford (Parker Andrews), Stephen Nattrass (OzBus), Anne-Marie Harding (Parker Andrews), Antony Antorkas (Parker Andrews) and Rob Freeman (OzBus)
LYNN coach tour firm Harrison Holidays has been bought by an Australian company specialising in epic overland adventure trips.
New owners OzBus Tours said they would strive to honour holidays booked before Harrison’s crashed in November owing about £½-million. The company also hopes to retain Harrison’s name and High Street shop and offer jobs to some former employees.
In a statement issued today, administrators Parker Andrews said its marketing campaign for Harrison Holidays generated dozens of interested queries, five formal offers and two interested bidders.
Spokesman Jamie Playford said OzBus stood out after he spoke to the Australian owner about what he was prepared to put into the business and because of the company’s previous experience in bringing a travel firm out of liquidation.
Mr Playford said: “It gave me confidence that the deal was going to work well for everyone.”
The sale price was not revealed but Mr Playford said it was based on a percentage of the turnover of the new Harrison Holidays business during 2012.
Operating trips already booked up to and including the new year had already reduced the amount owed by about half. He hoped the remaining debt would be cleared this year.
OzBus would honour customer payments for tours received before the company entered administration. If any holidays were not run due to a lack of bookings, customers would be offered a place on an alternative holiday of their choice.
OzBus Tours is owned by Daryl Jones, based near Brisbane, who has 40 years experience of running coach holidays. Its UK operation based at Diddington in Cambridgeshire specialises in three-month, mainly overland coach holidays to New York and Sydney.
UK operations manager Stephen Nattrass praised the loyalty of Harrison’s customers and the value of the company name.
He spoke optimistically about the future. “Tourism generally is facing a tough time but people still want to go on holiday. “They are looking for good value holidays and coach trips offer that,” said Mr Nattrass.
Both UK and European trips would continue to be offered, alongside more adventurous OzBus holidays.
To customers already booked, Mr Nattrass said: “We will be contacting them. We don’t want to upset anyone or let anyone down.”
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Weather for King's Lynn
Thursday 23 February 2012
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