Perfect Destinations, Travel Dreams and Dream Sports Travel, which all fall under the Cape Town-based Staff Travel company, went into voluntary liquidation on June 4.
Liquidation notices advise customers to direct enquiries to thomas.vanzyl@mazars.co.za for information on current bookings and refunds.
“We have worked exhaustively to avoid this devastating outcome, however the current international travel bans resulting in a complete erosion of revenues, combined with an uncertain recovery period assuming very low levels of business over the next few months, has had a destructive impact forcing the company into liquidation,” the notice says.
“I have been appointed by the directors to administer the liquidation of various entities including Travel Dreams. To date I have not yet been appointed by the Masters Office. As soon as that appointment has been made, I can then begin with the administration process,” says senior insolvency practitioner from Mazars South Africa, Thomas Van Zyl.
The Pepxpress website, which Travel News understands shares the same directors as Staff Travel, was still active at time of publication, although phone lines rang unanswered.
Travel News tried to contact the Perfect Destinations directors but had not received a response at time of publication.
Travel News contacted Perfect Destinations in March following rumours of retrenchments. At the time, director Zephnie Viljoen said the company had undergone an internal restructure in its admin and support departments towards the end of 2019. She attributed the retrenchments to the “fast organic growth” the company had achieved, together with the need to streamline departments after the implementation of new software.
Globus family of brands
Perfect Destinations was also the GSA for the Globus family of brands in South Africa. Travel News contacted Janine Pienaar of PaperJet Consulting (who was previously the sales and marketing manager of Globus in South Africa). She says she was working closely with the Globus family of brands office in Australia as they transitioned away from Perfect Destinations. Janine and reservations manager, Corrie Croucamp, will continue to service clients in South Africa on behalf of the brands, says Janine.
“We are also able to confirm that all bookings for the Globus, Cosmos, Avalon Waterways and Mongrams brands will be honoured,” she says.