Retail partnerships with four agencies – Travel Bureau, Peter Goord Travel, Bailey’s Travel and Feherty Travel – will be brought to a close following a strategic review of its approach to distribution and sales.

The move is the latest in a succession of changes at Kuoni forming parter of an ongoing transformation strategy "to better support future business objectives and growth plans".

Already, Kuoni has created a team of home-based Personal Travel Managers (PTMs), which will be headed up by former trade lead Sarah Weetman, who has taken on wider responsibility as Head of Retail, PTMs and trade. Travel Partnership Manager Adam Morris has stepped into Weetman's shoes.

Elsewhere, Kuoni has given up its 12 John Lewis concession stores across the country, which will be taken on by Audley Travel as it makes the jump into retail. Kuoni Managing Director Mark Duguid has also left the business.

Kuoni said its latest move, ending its partner store programme, reflected "the evolving travel landscape", highlighting in particular the growth of the home-based sector and the need to serve those agents better.

However, it stressed on Monday (28 September): "Kuoni remains fully committed to the trade and will evolve their approach with a focus on supporting high-performing agent partners across all sectors of the trade."

It will work with the four partner stores to ensure a smooth transition "while maintaining strong, amicable relationships with each business".

We would like to thank all our partner stores, past and present, for their valued support and for the contribution they have made over many years to our shared success," said Weetman. "We look forward to continuing to work closely with them as our businesses move forward."

On Kuoni's service to the trade, she added: "The relationships we have with the trade are incredibly important to Kuoni and remain a key part of our growth strategy.

"As our business, and customer behaviours, have evolved over recent years, it was time to review how we best invest our resources across all sales channels to support our long-term ambitions. We are excited to be launching a new high-performing agents initiative soon which will include team members from all four partner stores."