Inspire chief hails homeworkers’ resilience through Middle East disruption

Inspire Group’s chief executive Lisa Henning has praised the resilience of the company’s homeworkers following recent travel disruption across the Middle East.

Speaking today (June 25) at the group’s Independent Travel Associates (ITA) conference in Manchester – themed ‘Resilience and Vision’ – Henning revealed that overall sales grew by 25% year on year for the financial year ending March.

The performance came despite cancellations and consumer uncertainty surrounding the UAE hitting the business at “the worst possible moment” close to its financial year-end.

In her opening address, Henning singled out the group’s network of more than 100 homeworkers for “working through the night, keeping the lines open and holding each other up”.

More: Inspire Group bolsters commercial team to support homeworking division

“Ours is an industry where almost anything happening anywhere in the world lands on your desk by the morning,” Henning told delegates.

“You feel it first, and you feel it personally. Resilience isn’t pretending things are easy, it’s digging deep when times are tough.”

Henning urged the homeworking network to view themselves as entrepreneurs, pointing to an internal case study of an agent who successfully launched a niche, second social media page dedicated solely to Florida holidays to drive higher conversion rates.

The conference also recognised standout individual achievements over the past 12 months.

Paul Robson-Truong of PR Travel won best sales performance, Emma Westwood of Westwood Travel took home best commission, and Holly Odell of Inspire Travel by Holly was awarded best year-on-year growth.

The group’s major awards will be presented at its Christmas event later this year.

Henning closed by stating the group’s ultimate vision is to build the most supportive, people-focused homeworking travel business in the industry.

“Every decision we make is meant to strengthen the support underneath you,” she said.

“Success here looks different for every person in this room. For some it’s a thriving business. For others it’s flexibility, freedom, or confidence. Our job at Inspire is to back your version of success.”