HENDERSONS Travel has withdrawn its six branches from disbanding Scottish consortium Fairway to join ARTAC Worldchoice.
The Borders-based chain of agencies said it felt Fairway could no longer bargain effectively with the big operators and was attracted to the commercial clout of the 650-strong ARTAC consortium.
The departure comes as Fairway members, which numbered 36 branches including 15 principles until the Hendersons move, are set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the consortium’s winding down.
Hendersons joint owner Mike Webber said: “We were looking to join a nationally recognised organisation to negotiate effectively on our behalf with the monolithic tour operators and their associated travel agents.
“We wanted someone with good commercial arrangements, marketing support and training and also who was totally independent from the tour operator/travel agent chain.”
He said he was impressed that there was no compulsion on selling and no deracking of non-preferred operators. “It’s left to the member’s own commercial judgement who they should be supporting.”
Hendersons might have been a likely candidate to join up with Scottish Passenger Agents’ Retail Consortium, but Webber said he favoured ARTAC because it was more established.