RIP Bentours & Tempo Holidays

Although the company was officially placed into administration a year ago, let’s remember how good these two amazing products were

Brad Crawford from CVFR Consolidation Services was formerly Business Development Manager for Bentours and Tempo Holidays.

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THIS week marks the first anniversary since the collapse of Bentours and Tempo Holidays in both Australia and New Zealand, which occurred on 20 Sep 2019.

Let’s take a step back in time and remember how both of these companies began.

Back in the late 1970s, Bent Ronnov started a company that was named Bentours and his passion took Scandinavian travel to another level.

It must be remembered that Bent Ronnov brought the Hurtigruten brand to Australia and I have fond memories of being trained by Bent and passing on my knowledge about their extensive product range, including helping travel agents pronouncing the word Hurtigruten and experiencing their product back in 2009.

Bent built a great team of staff and grew the company to be the first choice as Scandinavian specialists for the Australian and New Zealand travel industry for many years.

It was 30 years ago this year, when Gary and Susan Hearst started a new travel wholesaler called Ya’lla Tours back in 1990.

This company focused on the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern destinations in the early years and then expanded into mainland Europe, Asia and South America.

After a number of years in operation, the company rebranded as Tempo Holidays and had an extensive product range for many years.

Both Bentours and Tempo Holidays were eventually sold as companies with different owners and some great managers.

In early 2010, Cox and Kings Australia became the new owners and whilst the company experienced some ups and downs, both products were proving to be very popular.

In the later years, both revenue and profits were going well, this included the early months of 2019.

Although the company was officially placed into administration a year ago, let’s remember how good these two amazing products were, as companies including Hurtigruten have a lot to be grateful for as both Bentours and Tempo Holidays served our travel industry well for many decades.