STUDENTS have been left thouands of pounds out of pocket after a UK travel company unexpectedly went bust.
Customers have called the news “gut-wrenching”, as bosses say they “deeply regret” the decision to shut close after nearly three decades.
UK gap year students may lose thousands after volunteer travel company, Global Vision International (GVI), cancelled all its holidays.
The Exeter-based company offered a range of conservation and “voluntourism” placements all over the world, becoming especially popular with school leavers and gap year students who paid to take part.
On July 1, after 28 years, the company was plunged into liquidation in a move that bosses say they “deeply regret”.
CEO of GVI, Andrew Valentine, said in a statement: “It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I write to share that GVI is today closing its doors.”
“I deeply regret the effect that GVI’s closure will have on staff, projects and customers, and we are committed to providing clear information to those affected as GVI goes through a formal liquidation process.”
GVI states on its website that “all current and future GVI programs have been cancelled”.
It continues to inform customer that “all impacted participants will receive formal correspondence detailing the liquidation process and instructions on how to lodge a claim”, and how to get their money back.
Amy Taylor, 21, a wildlife conservation and zoo biology student from Manchester, told BBC Newsbeat that GVI’s closure was “gut-wrenching”.
The student forked out £4,000 to pay for her once in a lifetime South Africa internship, hoping it would help her “stand out” on the job market -but now she is just filled with “disappointment”.
Linus Rowland-Bell, 23, from Liverpool worked two days a week alongside his university studies to pay for a programme in Peru.
Advertised as an internship in the Amazon rainforest, he found out about it through his university careers fair, paying £2,258 in total for his trip.
“The thought of all that money, all that time that I’ve saved up, that excitement completely vanishing into the ether, it was terrifying,” he told Newsbeat, after receiving the news of the liquidation.
Rowland-Bell received a full refund, but many more are waiting for more information from the liquidators.
Taylor further said she was relying on her bank to reclaim the money, as her insurance was booked through GVI.
“If I don’t get the money back, I can’t go anywhere else and I don’t really trust anyone at the moment to be able to go anywhere else.
“It didn’t seem like they were struggling – everything looked professional.”
The Sun reached out to RG Insolvency, who are overseeing GVI’s liquidation, that declined to comment.