CIT Tours ceases U.S. operations

NEW YORK - CIT Tours, the New York branch of Italian company Compagnia Italiana Turismo, ceased U.S. operations, according to several sources. Inquiries to company officials by Travel Weekly have not been answered and the company's Web site is not functioning.

Michael Koutz, owner of Expert Travel of Kalamazoo, Mich., said he was informed by Vacation.com that CIT was closed, but its sister company, Italiatour, was still in business.

Vacation.com's senior vice president of industry relations, Marty Braunstein, said that CIT Tours and Italiatour had been removed from preferred-supplier status with the consortium. ASTA said it expelled CIT, effective Jan. 11, for noncompliance with bylaws requiring members to respond to ASTA's mediation attempts.

The Canadian branch of CIT told Travel Weekly that there were "organizational changes in the U.S.," where the CIT brand was being merged into Italiatour, which CIT purchased from Alitalia in 2003. Italiatour in New York did not respond to inquiries about CIT Tours.

Bob Whitley, president of the U.S. Tour Operators Association (USTOA), said CIT effectively remains a member. "We still have their million-dollar deposit, and we are holding onto it for the rest of the year," he said.

Whitley said CIT's storefront on Third Avenue in New York was "closed down," and apparently Italiatour had offices on the third floor of the same building. While CIT is a USTOA member, Italiatour is not.

"There are no consumers hurt that I know of because there is no product," Whitley said. They seem to have ceased outbound operations and are giving that over to Italiatour. No suppliers have contacted me about being owed any money. But there are several agents who say they are owed money from several months ago."