Travel consultant Lucy Flesher of Destination in Silsden, West Yorkshire, tells Samantha Mayling how her career got off the ground
Q. How did you start in travel?
I studied travel and tourism in school, so I asked Destination about doing work experience. They said they’d love to have me, so I did a week in July 2018. Afterwards, they offered me a Saturday job, which I did until I left school. I talked to [co-founders] Lisa Manditsch and Shevaun Joy about apprenticeships then started my Level 3 travel consultant course in October 2019, with Rochdale Training. I didn’t complete it until February 2022, because it was prolonged due to Covid. That was good, in a sense, because I did my coursework at home. My tutors set up video calls and we trained with operators. By the time I came back into work, I’d finished everything. I just had to do practical stuff, dealing with actual customers. I was on furlough for 17 months.
Q. How did the agency deal with the pandemic?
Lisa and Shevaun provided food packages for older clients arriving back in the UK at the start of the pandemic. We all chipped in with home deliveries – and delivering brochures. It was in the local paper, so we had a few people mentioning it. We got a lot of business when there were restrictions for destinations – the red, amber and green [traffic light system]. People were desperate to go away and we had a lot of new business as well, because customers said they were too scared to book online. In a way, it was good for us. We are definitely busier now, after Covid, than before.
Q. How has your career progressed?
I started my Level 4 sales executive apprenticeship in April 2022 and finished last August. It is university degree level, which I didn’t realise until right at the end. AS Training was really good – I couldn’t have asked for anyone better than Michelle Van Sprang, who owns the company, and Lisa Gent, who did my end-point assessment. They said: “Please call or email at any time if you need anything at all.” Since passing the course, I’ve had more responsibility with Facebook offers. We do bits on Instagram, but our followers are mainly on Facebook and we get a lot of enquiries there. Hayley Jordan, our apprentice, is doing a social media course and has just started our TikTok account. I’m based mostly at the Silsden shop and have been going every Tuesday to the Barnoldswick branch. It’s a very small, cosy shop – you can just about fit two desks in. There are five full-time staff and one part-time at Silsden, but only one person at Barnoldswick.
Q. What are your clients like?
We get a lot of stag and hen do bookings, plus families and retired couples. Some like to book the week before they travel, others want to book for summer 2026. I might be dealing with an Alaska cruise and then a Tenerife holiday. We hold events, such as a Jersey and Guernsey event at a cafe with Premier Holidays. We did a travel show with different operators – some customers didn’t realise how much we sell. We also took part in a wedding fair.
Q. What’s selling well at the moment?
It’s a real mixture. Lanzarote is popular, for both winter and summer, and cruising is always a favourite. A lot of people are asking for a Canada tour with an Alaska cruise. I recently booked a tailor-made trip for a couple going to South Africa for a safari, then over to Mauritius. We also sell a lot of Thailand tours. We’re keen on touring and adventure – Hayley went to the Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas) conference in Lake Como last year. Now that she’s been there, she knows how to sell it. It definitely helps if you go to a destination, because you can sell it a lot more easily. We also do a lot more rail than we used to. I sold an America tour, which involved flying and staying in Memphis, visiting Graceland, then getting the train from Memphis to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. People still seem to be happy to spend lots of money on holidays. We see all sorts of different budgets and haven’t had anyone expressing concern about the cost of living. In fact, January was manic.
Tell us about your own travels
My first fam was in 2022, with Constantinou Bros Hotels in Paphos. In November 2024, I went with Shevaun to the Jet2 conference at the Constantinou Bros Athena Royal Beach Hotel, also in Paphos. In 2023 I went to Sri Lanka, with Premier Holidays, which was amazing. It was great being able to bring that knowledge back to customers and a lot of people booked Sri Lanka tours last year. In November 2023, I went to Dusseldorf with Fred Holidays. There was a Christmas market, plus we saw various hotels and attractions.
As for my own holidays, I’ve been to Tenerife with my partner for the past two years. He’s a big kid and likes the Siam Park water park. This year, we’re going to Greece in April then Mexico in September, for our honeymoon, after our wedding in June. We’ll be married at our local church, and my family owns a campsite, where we’ll have a marquee. My family also owns a farm, so I do quite a lot there. It’s a pig and sheep farm; we make our own sausages from our pigs. That keeps me busy as well.
More: Take Off in Travel: The must-read guide to careers in travel and tourism