This Company Is Travel’s First to Emerge From a Major Pandemic Bankruptcy
Photo Credit: Before the coronavirus crisis struck, WorldStrides organized educational trips for 550,000 students each year. WorldStrides
Skift Take
The European and Chinese backers of travel agency WorldStrides seem to think there'll be a rebound for international student travel. Do they know something we don't?
Top marks should get assigned to U.S. educational travel specialist WorldStrides, which has just emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Its parent company, Lakeland Tours LLC, filed the voluntary petition on July 21. As a result, it's the first company in the travel industry to enter and exit bankruptcy during the pandemic.
WorldStrides, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, is one of the biggest agencies in the student travel sector, but was overwhelmed by the amount of refunds it was required to pay out.
It operates educational trips for 550,000 students annually, partnering with 7,000 schools and 800 universities around the world. But most of those institutions closed down and the majority of field trips and other types of travel were canceled. A lot of educational travel is pre-paid, which will have exacerbated the situation.
Skift approached the agency for comment on the amounts owed, but it declined to elaborate. "WorldStrides has provided and will conti
