Claire Moore, owner of Peakes Travel Elite, has told the BBC a lot of travel industry companies "aren’t going to make it" following the tapering off of furlough support at the end of September.
Moore said the "hardest part" of the last 18 months was having to make seven members of her team redundant - leaving the company with four employees all still on flexi-furlough.
"It was heartbreaking after nurturing an award winning team, definitely the hardest moment of my career," she told BBC Breakfast on Thursday (9 September). "I was hoping that 18 months on we’d certainly had brought some of them back, but that is definitely not the case."
Moore’s comments come after chancellor Rishi Sunak appeared to give a final refusal to pleas to extend furlough or give sector specific support to the travel industry in a letter to MPs.
Moore’s remaining staff members have reportedly agreed to temporarily cut their hours to 75%, which, according to her, is more than the business currently needs, "but these guys have lives, mortgages, and they need to live those lives," she said.
"I think we all want to be positive but we’re struggling," Moore continued. "It’s like the government has helped us to build a bridge across this valley of death, but actually the bridge has stopped being built.
"The travel industry is pushing forward, but there are lots of us that aren’t going to make it to the other side."