Established corporate agency Jigsaw Travel has set up a leisure division as it looks to expand beyond business travel.
The agency, based in Hamilton in Lancashire, recruited Michele Lister as leisure sales manager at the end of May to run the new division and has plans to take on one or two leisure sales consultants later in the year.
The agency, part of Hays Travel Independence Group, currently has seven staff, including Lister and founder Lesley Millar, who set up the company in 1998 as a business travel agency.
Lister, who has worked in the travel industry for 31 years most recently as retail manager at Glen Travel near Glasgow, is tasked with building the brand in the leisure travel market. The company’s logo and website will both be updated to represent both divisions.
She said: “Business travel will always be at the forefront of the business but leisure will compliment that. I am building a new website to incorporate leisure travel and we have started to contact existing business travel clients.
“We will be doing lots of social media and we’ll look seriously at recruitment on the leisure side a bit later this year.”
So far sales have taken off faster than expected after marketing to the agency’s existing business travel clients.
She said: “We have had lots of bucket list and high-end holiday bookings, with clients happy to pay more money for their holidays.”
The fact clients were already familiar with the brand for their business travel bookings has made the transition into leisure travel easier, she added.
Lister said: “They are used to dealing with Jigsaw on the business travel side and Jigsaw staff have nurtured these clients. Many would have booked their own holidays before Covid but now want to go to an agent for their leisure bookings.”