Barrhead Travel has “a number of locations in mind” for potential retail expansion as it looks forward to opening its 49th branch.
The agency’s second store in Northern Ireland is set to open in Newtownabbey, north of Belfast, next month.
Company president Jacqueline Dobson said the business had identified “ample opportunity” for further growth in Northern Ireland and confirmed other areas were also on the radar.
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“We’ll open when we have the right team in place and the right location,” said Dobson, adding: “We don’t believe that being the biggest amounts to being the best. We’re focusing on quality locations.”
Asked whether Wales could expect a Barrhead Travel shop in the future, she said: “There may be opportunity there.”
Dobson said she had not personally met members of the new UK government, but Barrhead Travel was working with the Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association (SPAA) and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce to ensure key messages were sent to both Westminster and Holyrood.
The agency had contributed to the SPAA’s manifesto submitted to the UK government ahead of its upcoming budget, she added.
Asked to outline Barrhead Travel’s most pressing concerns, Dobson pointed to business rates and tax as well as investment in the high street.
“We have to make sure the high street stays current because customers will not want to visit the high street unless it stays current,” she said.
She also repeated her calls for the Scottish government to overhaul its approach to apprenticeships, describing the operation of the apprenticeship levy as “not fit for purpose”.
Assessing the level of competition offered by online rivals, she said Barrhead Travel remained confident it could continue to succeed.
“[Online travel agencies] are there and they’re competitors, but where we differentiate is with that human touch and being able to speak to somebody,” she said.
“If something goes wrong, you can always come into one of our stores or pick up the phone or send an email.”
She added that Barrhead Travel also runs websites catering for customers who prefer to book online, but emphasised the agency is a “human business”.
“That’s where we excel and we’ll never change,” she added.
Airlift from Edinburgh and Glasgow has improved in the past year, according to Dobson, but US-bound services from Glasgow are still viewed as insufficient.
“Glasgow doesn’t have enough airlift to the US. Emirates used to have two daily flights, but now it has one,” she said.
Domestic flights can also prove “difficult”, she added, giving the example of Glasgow still only having one flight a day to Gatwick.
Tour operators’ growth in Atol capacities has not had the effect of significantly denting prices, Dobson said, with Barrhead Travel’s average selling rise having shifted upwards.
There were some price reductions in August, she noted, but these lifted sales.
Sales and marketing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell added that increasing numbers of customers were also booking upgrades, such as balcony cabins on cruises, which had also helped selling prices.
Since taking on additional responsibilities within Internova Travel Group, Barrhead Travel’s parent company, Dobson has picked out “learnings” from the US-based businesses she now oversees.
“From a product perspective we’ve already taken some ideas from what they’re doing and there are some synergies with suppliers,” she said.
During the main business sessions at the annual conference in Ibiza, Dobson confirmed the next raft of Barrhead Travel stores to benefit from a share of the £250,000 refurbishment pot would be East Kilbride, Dunfermline, Cumbernauld, Bearsden and Edinburgh’s Cameron Toll.
Photo: Jacqueline Dobson at the Barrhead Travel conference in Ibiza. (Credit: Gerardo Jaconelli.)