The Midcounties Co-operative’s travel group has restructured its team and appointed Claire Evans as chief operating officer, travel channels, as part of its new growth strategy.
The business includes 70 Your Co-op Travel high street agencies; 140 independent agency members of The Co-op Travel Consortium; 150-plus The Personal Travel Agents homeworkers, and tour operator brand Co-op Holidays.
Evans joined from easyJet – where she was head of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing – to work with retail, consortium agencies and homeworkers, in a role similar to that of COO Rad Sofronijevic, who left in November 2021.
Sara Dunham (pictured), travel and leisure chief officer, said the restructure aims to drive growth and “enable us to focus on performance and development”.
“We can work as a single business with component parts, instead of different business units,” she said.
“We are out of the worst of the pandemic. We’re seeing demand holding up…and we want to fuel that growth.
“Operating in a more joined-up way will offer more opportunities for growth.”
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Ali Holmes is promoted to head of retailing, reporting to Evans, and there are expanded roles for Anna Langford, channel operations manager, and Katie Blunt, travel marketing manager.
Ben Lovett is promoted to senior commercial manager to manage third-party commercial relationships, reporting to Mark Mitchell, head of Co-op Holidays and third-party commercial.
Co-op Holidays aims for “incremental growth” and will expand its product and destination range, particularly long-haul.
Sheena Whittle remains head of PTAs and recruitment is taking place for a role overseeing the team of seven employed homeworkers, which is set to expand.
The restructure has seen departures “in the single digits”, including Natalie Turner, head of branches.
Overall, there is a net increase of 20 roles, said Dunham, who was appointed in February 2021.
“In my first year, I was stabilising the business, as we were recovering from Covid,” she said.
“Now we have had a sustained performance for six months at the levels we want, which gives confidence for the future.”
Recruitment continues in retail branches, with people from outside travel sought as there are fewer candidates with relevant experience.
Training is offered to starters from different sectors, and colleagues from other Midcounties divisions, such as food, can move to travel.
Dunham said the cost-of-living crisis is another challenge, with some cancellations for autumn blamed on the problems.
Other issues such as itinerary changes are also causing cancellations, she said.
“But there are lots of new bookings for next summer and high-value bookings,” she added.
“Retail branches are seeing more people coming in for reassurance and extra support – lots of questions about Covid restrictions.”
Four travel area managers have been appointed in regional roles: Louise Winter (northeast), Kim Foat (northwest and Scotland), Louise Devall (southwest) and Jessica West (southeast).
Furthermore, there will be a colleague conference before the end of the year, to thank the staff and update them on plans for growth.