An estimated 2,500 jobs have been lost and 64,000 bookings have been cancelled with the collapse of the firm.

The hotel and travel company included well-known coach holiday brands Shearings, Caledonian Travel and Wallace Arnold.

Specialist Leisure Group said on its website that all tours, cruises, holidays and hotel breaks had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.

Travel body Abta said the firm had struggled to provide refunds for trips cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, BBC News reports.

Adta added that the vast majority of cancelled bookings were coach package holidays and customers with these bookings will receive a full refund.

The hotels in Scotland which have closed are: 

• Bay Highland Hotel in Strathpeffer
• Bay Great Western Hotel in Oban
• Bay Tarbet Hotel at Loch Lomond
• Bay Caledonian Hotel in Fort William
• Bay Waverley Castle Hotel in Melrose
• Pitlochry Hydro Hotel in Perthshire
• Portpatrick Hotel in Dumfries and Galloway

Richard Calvert, the firm’s chief executive, said: “The effects of COVID-19 on our 117-year-old company and the wider travel industry have been devastating.

“In the most trying of circumstances we have fought tooth and nail to save the group and the jobs of our 2,400 loyal employees serving over 1.1 million customers annually.

“It is heart-breaking that the required funding or investment could not be secured to get us through this unprecedented crisis.”

• Read all of our articles relating to COVID-19 here.