Teletext Holidays Explained

Teletext Holidays
Type:Private
Founded:1992
Location:Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, United Kingdom, WC2H 9JQ
Area Served:Worldwide
Industry:Travel, tourism
Products:Package Holidays, Cruises, Hotels
Services:Travel Agencies

Teletext Holidays is a British travel company that specializes in the sale of short and long haul beach holidays. The company was owned by Teletext Ltd from 1992 until late 2023 when Teletext Ltd and its holiday provider Truly Travel entered into liquidation and as a result, Teletext Holidays temporarily ceased trading whilst a new buyer was sought.

Its website www.teletextholidays.co.uk was revamped and offers affordable holidays to both short haul and long haul destinations from a variety of ATOL-protected holiday providers. Teletext Holidays is a member of the Travel Trust Association (TTA).

Headquarters

Teletext Holidays is headquartered in Covent Garden, London, supported by its support back office located in Hyderabad, India

History

Prior to 1992, Teletext services were available via television sets on BBC, ITV and Channel 4. In 1992, a new company called Teletext Ltd bought the TV teletext service from previous owners Oracle, which had provided the teletext services on ITV and Channel 4.

On 1st January 1993, Teletext Ltd released a new version of Teletext on TV, with holidays a major part of this revamped offering. Between 1992-2010, holidays booked on Teletext via telephone calls became a well-established and much-loved part of British culture.

Despite the digitalisation of the service in the year 2000, the emergence of the Internet meant the need for a Teletext service on TVs reduced.

In late 2009 Teletext services on ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 ended, and in October 2012 Ceefax services on BBC were finally switched off for good too.

The Move online

In late 2010 Teletext moved its holidays section online to a new website - www.teletextholidays.co.uk which listed thousands of holidays from tour operators. Over time, Teletext began to collaborate with fewer partners and  in late 2012 the company decided it was time to reduce the number of partners to just one. A deal was struck with Truly Travel for them to become the sole provider of holidays.

From 2013-2020, Teletext Holidays established itself as one of the top online holiday companies in the UK and Ireland, at its peak sending over 350,000 people on holiday, winning numerous awards including Best Online Travel Agent at the 2018 British Travel Awards.

Liquidation

Following the challenges of the pandemic and the impact on the travel industry, in November 2021, Teletext Holidays’ holiday provider Truly Travel went into liquidation.

This left Teletext Holidays with no holiday provider and its owners Teletext Ltd sought new buyers. A deal was unable to be struck and in late 2023 Teletext Ltd itself went into liquidation.

New owners

In early 2024 Teletext Holidays assets were acquired from the liquidators by Teletext Travel Ltd.

Today Teletext Holidays is back selling short haul and long haul affordable holidays to UK consumers on its website www.teletextholidays.co.uk following the same call to book model from a range of holiday providers.