HARVEY World Travel has joined forces with Virgin Holidays to create 300 dual-branded high-street shops and is encouraging independents to join the network.
An initial 100 shops, made up of HWT’s acquisitions of former Going Places branches and shop openings in Morrisons stores, will be up and running by this autumn. They will be called ‘Harvey World Travel the travel professionals for Virgin Holidays’. Of HWT’s current 24 shops, its Stafford branch was the first to be rebranded.
It will be the second time Virgin has had its name on the high street, but the first time it has had a large high-street presence.
Each branch will have a dedicated Virgin Holidays area with a destination DVD library, plasma screens and brochures. There will also be the chance to host in-store ‘interactive’ weddings in Las Vegas booked through Virgin Holidays. Families who cannot afford to attend will be able to watch the marriage live in a HWT agency.
Encouraging independents to get involved, HWT managing director John Donnelly said: “Independent agents will have access to a strong retail brand currently missing from a UK high street dominated by aggressive groups squeezing commission and promoting their own shops and products.” There are no plans to expand the network further.
Virgin Holidays is providing a dedicated liaison manager at HWT’s head office and a fam trip for an agent in every branch.
General manager of sales Kieran Farragher said Virgin Holidays would be the preferred supplier with HWT where possible. But it will continue to work closely with other independents, such as Triton.