A local travel company specialising in educational tours has gone into liquidation, citing COVID-19 and issues with its insurance company as the final nails in the coffin.
Antipodeans Abroad has been showing high schoolers, schoolies and university students the world for almost 30 years, but COVID-19’s travel restrictions and cancellations have all but wiped the company from the face of the earth.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has confirmed the company is under external administration, and 7 News has reported Hall Chadwick has been called in as liquidator.
7 News also said the company’s Sydney headquarters and Melbourne offices were “locked up and empty”, potentially leaving thousands of students and parents out of pocket.
Previously boasting a $40 million annual turnover, the company was reportedly handed over the liquidators with just $322 in the bank.
Travel Weekly reached out to Antipodeans Abroad but is yet to receive a reply. However, the company’s founder Lachlan Bunn told 7 News that the company’s insurer Insurer 360 Accident and Health has refused to pay up after all trips were cancelled.
The company has even taken its insurer to court, but with the company now in liquidation, the outcome is unclear.
Travel Weekly has also contacted Hall Chadwick for comment, but is yet to receive a response.
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