Tui has announced that it is furloughing 11,000 staff in the UK, the majority in retail and head office roles.

The company has said 4,455 travel agency staff, which represents 99 per cent of its shop staff, will be furloughed from today (Wednesday 1 April) following the closure of its high-street network due to the UK Government’s lockdown in response to the coronavirus (officially named covid-19) pandemic.

The remaining 6,545 staff are from cabin crew, pilots, and staff in retail and head office functions.

The UK’s leading travel company has said that a small number of team members will work as part of a virtual call centre remotely.

Approximately 2,200 employees will continue working. Tui employs a total of 13,200 employees in the UK.

A spokeswoman said: “We will have a small number of team members working as a virtual call centre to support our other contact centres – and we will still have team members who support third party suppliers and agents working.”

Tui has said it had been working through all available options, particularly since the government announced its job retention scheme.

Managing director TUI UK and Ireland, Andrew Flintham, commented: “The travel industry is facing unprecedented pressure.

“We will continue to put the customer at the heart of what we do, and when they can holiday with us again we want to be in the best position to deliver the wide range of destinations and experiences we do today.

“It is therefore imperative that we make these difficult cost decisions and also look after our colleagues during such unprecedented uncertainty. We are a fantastic business and we look forward to taking people on holiday again soon.”

This news comes a week after World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released its predictions that up to 75 million jobs are at “immediate risk” in global Travel & Tourism due to the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a GDP loss to the world economy of up to $2.1 trillion in 2020.

According to the analysis, up to one million jobs are at risk in the UK, leading to a total GDP loss of more than £52.2 billion ($61 billion).

Leading travel trade association ABTA has been calling on UK government ministers, including the office of the Prime Minister, this week, urging for immediate action to help UK travel businesses that have been under “enormous financial strain” with the collapse in sales coupled with customer repatriation costs and refund demands.

Visit gov.uk for the latest coronavirus travel advice.