Gold Medal is poised to start broadening its portfolio of product in response to agents’ demands with cruise at the top of the hit list, according to Dubai-based parent company dnata.
The Preston-based long-haul specialist was acquired by dnata, a part of the Emirates Group, in February from Thomas Cook for £45 million.
Speaking to Travel Weekly on the eve of the Advantage travel agent consortium conference in Dubai, Iain Andrew (pictured), dnata divisional senior vice president travel services, said:
“Gold Medal is now getting the right number of people on the road who understand the independent agents and getting them the right things that they need.”
Dnata hosted a dinner with around 20 Advantage agents at Atlantis, The Palm ahead of this week’s conference, and Andrew said the feedback from the event was very positive.
“It was useful to talk to them and to talk about the acquisition. They like the fact Gold Medal is now separate from Thomas Cook.
“They want to see us getting into new products like cruise. It is one area we are looking at,” Andrew said.
He added dnata might do this either by looking to acquire an established retailer in the cruise sector or by sourcing its own product.
However, Andrew ruled out any prospect of dnata creating its own operator. “There seems to be a lot of inventory out there,” he said.
Andrew also ruled out any prospect of Gold Medal offering short-haul, matching the recent move by rival travel supplier Travel2.
“Gold Medal will focus on long-haul. We have enough work to do bringing all contracting capability together and trying to get deals for our customers than to worry about short-haul.”
Since the buyout, dnata has allowed the existing management team at Gold Medal, including managing director Steve Barrass and marketing product and commercial director Robin Parry, to get on with running the business without any distractions.
Andrew said the firm had gone through a three year period when it was either integrating with Thomas Cook, coming out of Cooks or going through the sale process.
“To be fair to the guys, it was not the most valuable period for them,” said Andrew.
However, dnata has established a separate project team also including people from online agent Travel Republic, which it bought in December 2011, to look at new initiatives.
Andrew said the experience from the Travel Republic deal was that Gold Medal was as likely to enhance the way dnata operates in non-UK markets as the other way around.
“We are talking to them about how we bring some of their capability to this region. The way they do specific brochuring and the professional way they engage with independent agents.
“We have been servicing the independent trade here for many years, but we do not offer the same level of support here that Gold Medal does.”
It is possible that the Gold Medal and Pure Luxury brands could be used in the Middle East which would help dnata distribute its product through competitor agency outlets.