The boss of Advantage Travel Partnership sees further growth opportunities for the consortium as it recovers from the pandemic in 2021.
Julia Lo Bue-Said has celebrated 25 years with the agency group, helping it expand from about 200 members to more than 700 in the leisure and business sectors. Before Covid-19 struck, its annual turnover was about £4.5 billion.
About 10 members went by the wayside in the Covid-19 chaos of 2020, with some going into administration and others shutting up shop.
Speaking to Travel Weekly, Lo Bue-Said said: “I certainly see Advantage continuing to grow. We’ve already grown the organisation to make sure that we can represent travel agents in every different model.
“I want Advantage to be the only game in town, so that any agent in any community is able to join the organisation.”
She forecast that the Advantage brand will become more widely recognised and it will help agents show consumers how members stand for “independence, value, expertise and choice”.
Lo Bue-Said appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning (January 6) to highlight the “absolute turmoil” faced by the travel industry over the past 10 months.
She also said the industry has had no detail from the government yet about Covid-19 testing for international travel.
“From an industry perspective, we have been calling on the government since March to introduce testing because we feel it will actually enable people to travel confidently, safely, in the knowledge that testing is required,” she told business reporter Nina Warhurst.
“It’s frustrating that, 10 months later, we had a very vague comment from the PM when he was asked a question about testing.
“We still have no detail. It is really important they talk to us and liaise with us so we can help customers.”
Warhurst said the UK travel and tourism industry was worth £200 billion a year – about 9% of the whole economy.