Up to 65 new jobs are being created at Panorama Holidays, making it the sixth largest tour operator in Britain.

Forty new vacancies are for call centre, accounts and clerical staff and bosses say another 25 are likely in the next few months.

Manos Holidays, which is currently based in London, has been taken over by Panorama's parent company Airtours and is relocating to Portslade, where Panorama's headquarters and call centre is based.

Deputy managing director of Panorama Nick Munday said: "This is very good news for the Brighton area as generally speaking the jobs can be filled from this area. We currently have about 135 people working for us but we could be growing to around 200 by Christmas."

Manos employs approximately 50 people at its current headquarters in the City of London, which is closing. Only about five people are expected to move from London to the refurbished wing of Panorama's 27,000-square foot offices in Portslade.

Most of those employed in London have turned down jobs offered to them on the South Coast and are taking voluntary redundancy, leaving their posts open to people in Sussex living near the new base.

Panorama will be sharing all backroom operations with Manos, which was acquired by Airtours last month for an undisclosed sum, when it starts trading from Portslade on May 2, but Mr Munday said the separate brand will be fiercely protected.

He said: "Running the companies together will give us the economy of scale but there is no conflict between the two brands at all and we will be looking to expand them sensibly as they both have enormous latent potential.

"Manos has more than 100 staff overseas who are all extraordinarily enthusiastic about the opportunities a larger company can offer them. But it was very hard to make the redundancies, although not forced, in London."

Mr Munday and Panorama managing director Justin Fleming have never made any redundancies since they took over the business, with just six staff, in 1987. Since then it has seen constant expansion and was taken over by Airtours in a friendly deal worth £12.5 million in 1998.

Among those from Manos moving to Portslade, believed to be about half a dozen, are product and health and safety staff. Kevin Warne, production manager at Manos Holidays, said: "Those people who are relocating are really looking forward to living and working by the sea."

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