The luxury end of the travel market added to the woes of the rest of the industry after Western & Oriental on Thursday said it was laying off a fifth of its workforce and letting its finance director go.

Steven Hall’s responsibilities will be subsumed by David Howell, the chief executive of the Aim-listed specialist luxury travel group. Staff at the 200-strong group were told the head count was being cut by 40, including the closure of its German operation.