Homeworking agency InteleTravel has reported its turnover rose by 28% year on year in the first quarter of 2024, driven by “a surge in cruise bookings”.
For the January-March period, cruise bookings represented 13.9% of sales, an increase of 5.3 percentage points on the same months last year.
InteleTravel’s top 50 agents generated more than £2.5 million worth of bookings, with average sales of £50,000 per agent.
Top performers include Travel Less Ordinary’s Col Ord, who has booked 320 cruises in his first 12 months as an advisor.
The homeworking agency said it now has 20,000 InteleTravel agents in the UK and Ireland, with new entrants attracted by “the low cost of joining and the flexibility to set their own targets”.
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InteleTravel also said it has “intensified” its onboarding and training programme, so agents now follow a more structured path towards their first sales.
The company has 95 preferred partners and those that have signed up to the gold (top) tier of its Partner Marketing Engagement Programme have seen their revenues increase by 35.4% year on year in the first quarter.
Partner performance has been boosted thanks to webinars, podcasts, Facebook interviews, newsletter features, partner-of-the-month deals, and live and virtual events.
Tricia Handley-Hughes, InteleTravel UK and Ireland managing director, said: “The performance has been exceptional and we are excited by the growth in our cruise business.
“Our three-tier partner programme, which we set up at the beginning of last year, has been a game-changer and the suppliers who have come on board with it have reaped the rewards with incredible support from our agents.
“The disciplined, pre-planned delivery across various channels ensures we hit all the spots at peak times.
“Since the first quarter, the trend upwards has continued, and we expect to go from strength to strength and have yet another year of successful trading.”