The boss of the Scottish-based company talks about plans to expand in the UK. Hollie-Rae Merrick reports
The Minoan Group has grown rapidly in the past three years, snapping up several familiar agency names in Scotland.
Now the leisure and business travel group, headed by former MyTravel boss Duncan Wilson, is looking to branch out of Scotland and acquire miniples in the north of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
However, Wilson said he was not prepared to “wave a magic wand” to save businesses “that are dying”.
Faith in the high street
Wilson has faith in the high street. He says many are thriving, and believes face-to-face travel retailing still works despite huge changes in recent years.
Although Wilson is seeking to grow Minoan’s high street presence, he is looking to take it only to a certain level. He believes the likes of Thomas Cook and Thomson are trying to diminish their presence on the high street as they look to “get to a more rational number”.
“Some high streets are dead and devastated, and we won’t be popping up there,” he said.
“We will try to be one of the guys on the streets that are alive.
“We are looking at anything that is interesting and profitable.
“If a business is working – and there are many owners out there who have owned companies for a long time and are looking to retire and want to give the shops to a nice home – then that’s us.”
In the past three years, the Minoan Group has acquired King World Travel, John Semple Travel, Stewart Travel and Martin Singer Travel. The group now has eight travel businesses, 14 shops and 200 members of staff, as well as a string of websites. It is also planning to develop land in Greece for tourism.
Wilson said sales at Stewart Travel were up and claimed corporate travel had been the stand-out performer of the past year. His interest in corporate travel was one of the reasons Minoan acquired Martin Singer Travel, which is based near Aberdeen airport, a facility
used by travellers involved
in the oil industry.
Expanding online brands
Wilson said Minoan’s online brands, Scotland’s Cruise Centre, CruiseKings, SkiKings, DanceKings and GolfKings, were all doing well and he was now looking to extend the websites to other English-speaking markets.
“The internet allows us to use our bank of knowledge anywhere in the world,” he said.
“We are Cruisekings.co.uk but there is nothing to stop us being Cruisekings.com.sa and speaking to people in South Africa, or in Australia or Canada. It would be foolish to start with foreign languages, so we will start with places that can speak Scottish,” he joked.
Referring to the economic downturn, he said some travel firms failed because they tried to be the “cheapest guy in town”.
Wilson said that would never be Minoan’s approach, adding: “Our people have valuable knowledge, but it’s not free, and that’s why we are in business.”