Barrhead Travel is reaping the benefits of its focus on cruising, touring and adventure as those sectors are seeing particular strong growth amid a resilient consumer back-drop.
New managing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell that the current peaks season is “definitely record-breaking”, with average spending up despite economic concerns.
She pointed to “really significant growth for luxury and river cruising” in particular, as well as 40% year-on-year growth for the touring and adventure sector.
“Our average spend is actually up. People are spending more on holidays this year,” she told a Travel Weekly webcast.
“It is good news, despite all of the doom and gloom and some underlying challenges out there in terms of the economy and people’s discretionary spend.
“Overall, people are willing to pay more for that right holiday.”
She highlighted how the agency had “made a commitment” two years ago to the touring and adventure sector as it had recognised an “opportunity” for growth.
“This year, so far in peaks, we’re actually trending 40% up versus last,” she said.
“A lot of the messages that we saw at Atas [Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers conference] we took away, and we’ve worked on.”
She pointed to a “spike” in solo travellers, for example, and how destinations such as South Africa, Italy and Vietnam are “trending really well”.
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As well as a dedicated touring and adventure team, the agency now has “champions” in 10 branches to champion the sector.
“We are going to develop their skill set,” she noted, adding there will also be efforts within the Brilliant Travel homeworking division and MSTP [Managed Serviced Travel Partners] members “to help them realise their potential”.
Commenting on the growth in cruising, she told the webcast: “Everybody needs to be an expert on cruise. As part of our introduction, there is training on cruise.”
Barrhead also has dedicated cruise experts with its Cruise Direct and The Cruise Specialists brands.
“Like we’ve done with touring and adventure, they have to know a lot more than I would expect from our staff in our retail branches,” she added.
Beyond cruise, touring and adventure, she said short-haul is “trending really well”, while multi-centres and long- haul remain popular.
Turkey has seen significant growth, leap-frogging Spain as the top destination, thanks to its value offering with “great standard” all-inclusive hotels.
“People are definitely looking for value. And they are looking for agents to help them understand where that value is,” she added.
“They do all-inclusive, so they know they can budget. That is what we’ve seen in Turkey.”
She continued: “We are seeing growth in the Canaries and long-haul [where] our top destinations are Florida, Dubai and Canada.”
And consumers are still keen to book bucket-list trips to long-haul destinations such as Japan, she added.
Asked if she is looking at other areas on which to focus, she replied: “There is so much opportunity for us when we look at our business, and there are loads of other areas we’d like to get into and accelerate, like weddings and high-end luxury.
“We have got to really think about the right timing.
“With the touring and adventure and USA division…we have got to make sure we get them to a place where we’re really comfortable with sustained growth and consistently performing, rather than…doing too much and not delivering anything.”
She also hailed “solid foundations” with suppliers, noting how 99% were “incredible during Covid and really supported us”.
“If you think about the cruise industry, the support they gave to us was absolutely fantastic,” she added.
The agency also has 60 representatives from suppliers joining the senior team on Saturday (February 1) for the agency’s annual back-to-the-floor day.
Tempest-Mitchell is awaiting the delivery of her staff uniform as she plans to be in the Liverpool branch.
“I like to do a different branch every year. I will be there with a couple of suppliers; it is going to be great,” she commented.
Picture of cruise ship. Credit: Leonid Sorokin/Shutterstock