It said the temporary, but prolonged reduction in demand for travel triggered by the pandemic, changing shopping behaviour and a growing confidence to use video apps to plan holidays online have all come into play. 

The plan is to close a number of Kuoni’s high street stores where leases are coming to an end, which includes Lakeside, Bromley, Leeds, Windsor, Kingston, Stratford, Canterbury and Glasgow.   

The lease on the London City store had already been transferred to an alternative retailer earlier this year.

All staff who were based in the affected stores will remain with the business.   

Of Kuoni’s high street and shopping centre stores, Guildford reopened in July, and the company will be phasing the reopening of its 20 high street shops over the coming months. 

Kuoni has already reopened within John Lewis in Aberdeen and Peter Jones in London and this will be followed by Norwich opening on 7 October. 

On  3 November, Kuoni will be reopening its concessions in John Lewis shops in Cardiff, Chelmsford, Reading and Southampton. They will be followed by Leicester, Oxford Street and Cribbs Causeway in the future with an exact date to be confirmed. 

The following seven Kuoni concessions in John Lewis shops will not be reopening: Newcastle, Oxford, Leeds, Cheadle, White City, Trafford and Welwyn.

Derek Jones, chief executive of Kuoni’s parent company Der Touristik UK, said: “Our immediate plan is that all staff will remain with us working from home in our virtual call centre which is working well.  

“Needless to say though we are still operating in a very uncertain trading environment so we will continue to review our retail strategy with a view to making the Kuoni brand fit for the future and prepared to take every advantage of the opportunity as soon as demand for worldwide travel returns.”