Henbury Travel owner Richard Slater has pledged to emphasise the value of small independent agencies and their role in the sector’s growth when he joins Abta’s board of directors.
Slater, who has been Abta North West regional chair since 2019, will represent the association’s Council of Regions when he joins the board at its annual general meeting on September 21, initially for two years, after being put forward for the post by other regional chairs.
He will be the second agent on the board, joining Daniele Broccoli, managing director of Britaly Travel and Typically Holidays, who currently represents retail members with turnover under £20 million.
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Slater’s Macclesfield agency, which this week reported queues outside the door, is expected to turn over £2.5 million this year.
“We have been pushing to get a ‘core’ member on the board because retailers were only represented by Daniele,” said Slater, who made the case for high street retailers during the pandemic, appearing regularly on TV and radio.
Slater argued: “The majority of Abta members are small businesses or homeworkers and turn over less than £5 million. Daniele and I are the only ones on the board who have our own companies.”
He aims to highlight the importance of independent agents and encourage suppliers to work more with the trade rather than focus on online channels.
Slater insisted: “Agents have knowledge and experience, can upsell bookings and make sure customers are airport-ready. More people are seeing the benefits of booking through an agent. Operators not focused on agents are missing a trick and lose out.”
He added that “it’s time the big boys were challenged” over online discounts, which agents can’t compete with. Slater will also urge suppliers to work more with agents in the regions, arguing: “We don’t want everything to be so London-centric.”
Abta chairman Alistair Rowland welcomed the appointment, saying: “Richard’s experience and expertise will be invaluable.”
Graeme Brett, co-founder of agent action group Travel Agents Reform Group Engaged Together (Target), agreed: “This is a huge step in the right direction.”
Target has campaigned to have two elected agents representing businesses with turnover under £2 million and under £5 million on the board. Brett said: “It’s not exactly what we asked for, but it’s a victory for agents.”
Target co-founder Jill Waite, of Pole Travel, suggested: “This is not the end of the campaign for greater representation on the Abta board but the first step on the road to reform.”
Abta is seeking nominations for election to other positions on the board representing retail businesses with turnover less than £20 million, principal businesses with turnover less than £50 million, and principal businesses with a turnover of £50 million or above.
The deadline for nominations is 5pm on July 26 and ballot papers will go out in August if positions are contested. Abta has also invited nominations for its Council of Regions to represent the Eastern, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Southern, South Wales and Yorkshire & North Midlands regions.
Richard Slater’s careerRichard Slater comes from a family of high street retailers. His parents ran fruit and veg shops and his grandparents ran a fishmongers, all in Wilmslow. From an early age, Slater worked Saturdays at his family’s high street shops. At 15, he went on his first trip abroad, a cruise booked at a local travel agency. “I had a wonderful time and when I came back my mum saw an advert in the local paper for a travel and tourism college course. I had been planning to work for Midlands Bank,” recalled Slater, who said a stint of work experience soon changed his mind. Whilst at college Richard did some holiday work for Ian Pollitt, at Carrier Travel, established just a few years earlier. Ringway Travel owner Brenda Giddings – who turns 100 this October – along with her son Howard, who ran the business near Manchester day to day, gave Slater his first job in retail travel. He started on June 8, 1987, earning £72 a week, and worked there for the next 10 years. Slater moved to another independent agency in Cheshire for 13 years before being made redundant and trying out homeworking as a way to build a database to eventually open his own high street store. He took the plunge to set up Henbury Travel in Macclesfield in 2018, relocating to larger premises last year. During Covid, Slater spoke out regularly to represent the views of grassroots agents in national media. He joins Abta’s board officially at its annual general meeting on September 21. |