On the last day of 2010, Swiss travel company Kuoni announced it had completed its acquisition of Belgian tour operator, Best Tours.
Best Tours, which went into liquidation on December 23, specialised in long-haul tours to South Africa, as well as several Asian destinations.
Peter Brun, Head of Corporate Communications for Kuoni, told Tourism Update that the brand would remain in the Belgian market but would, from now, be managed by Kuoni Benelux. Brun couldn’t reveal whether the new management would continue to work with the same ground handlers in South Africa. “As the set-up will be defined in the next few weeks, we haven’t made those decisions yet. Kuoni Benelux will contact all suppliers over the next few days to inform them about the acquisition and how to build up a relationship with Best Tours under the Kuoni umbrella.”
Over 5 000 travellers had bookings with Best Tours when the operator went into liquidation but Kuoni said it couldn’t take over responsibility for previous bookings. Said Brun: “Kuoni took over Best Tours as an asset deal. We did not take over the legal entity. Any outstanding debts by the legal entity Best Tours will not be taken over by Kuoni.” However, Best Tours was covered under its insurance with Belgian company Garantiefonds Reizen, which guaranteed booked travel. Insurance with Garantiefonds Reizen is obligatory for any tour operator in Belgium.
