Mercury Holidays
Mercury Holidays (formerly Mercury Direct), part of the Sunspot Tours Ltd, is a British based tour operator established in 1990. It operates in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland and offers holidays to worldwide destinations as well as escorted tour programs to tourist destinations throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
History
Foundation & Ownership
Mercury Holidays was founded in 1990 and is part of Sunspot Tours, a parent company. Sunspot Tours Ltd was established by Martin Bugeja, Nick Bugeja and Andy Holland in 1980, selling travel packages through travel agents. It began specialising in holidays to Malta and from 1983 included holidays to Cyprus. This later expanded to include holidays to Madeira, Australia, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
In 1990 Mercury Holidays (formerly Mercury Direct) was launched and initially began selling holiday packages directly to clients. From 2010, after a successful pilot scheme, Mercury began working with travel agents across the UK. As of 2012 Mercury Holidays began offering escorted tours, with first departures occurring in 2013.
Key People
- Martin Bugeja - Founder and chairman
- Emma Bugeja
- Tom Bugeja
Mercury Holidays Today
Mercury Holidays was re-branded in 2014, formerly known as Mercury Direct, and continues to expand its offerings to travelers worldwide. The company is represented by the Association of British Travel Agents, UK's largest travel association and they are one of the partners of Mail Travel, part of the Daily Mail newspaper.
Industry Recognition
Mercury Holidays were silver and bronze winners in the British Travel Awards 2014 in the following categories:
- Silver winners - Best Holiday Company to The INDIAN Ocean, Best Holiday Company to the Italian Peninsular and Malta
- Bronze winners - Best Company for Weddings and Honeymoons