ONE of the country’s leading travel agents has ceased trading, throwing hundreds of people’s travel arrangements into chaos and putting yet more travel agents on the dole queue.

TOUR operator Budget Travel is set to axe 95 jobs and almost half of its Irish stores by October as part of a “restructuring” process caused by a 40% drop in customers.

ONE of the biggest travel agents in the country moved last night to reassure customers their holiday bookings were safe after it became the latest casualty of the crisis facing the travel industry.

A NEW website specialising in all things Disney has been launched and, not surprisingly, has been named Magic Vacations. The company has been set up by John Barrett, a former Disney employee, who is well known in the Irish travel trade through his links with City Travel and Travel Focus.