The Midcounties Co-operative’s travel group is in a “strong position” to withstand challenges ahead and grow in future, according to chief travel and leisure officer Sara Dunham.
Dunham, who joined 18 months ago, told The Midcounties Co-operative Travel Consortium conference in Sicily that the society overall had started the year well.
“We have had a strong start to the year given the cost of living concerns and changes in consumer behaviour. Our financial position is improving,” she said.
She admitted trading faced challenges across the society, which includes other businesses such as food stores, adding: “We have clearly got some strong headwinds but what we are focused on is taking action to mitigate these challenges.
“From a travel perspective what we have been focused on is how we recover from the pandemic. As a travel business over all we are seeing some really strong recovery.”
She was confident the group’s travel business remained resilient. “We can navigate our way through. I am confident we are in a good position and we will be able to deal with the challenges coming ahead,” she said.
The group has been ahead of 2019 on ‘like for like’ business in four weeks of this year. “There are strong signs that recovery is starting to grow and that it is sustained,” she added.
The group has focused on costs and opportunities to ensure the group is working in the “most efficient way” with the recent restructure aimed at streamlining areas of the business such as administration.
She said: “We have done a lot of work on the strategy for the next five years and how we can grow. We have got commitment from the board that travel is one of the strategic businesses. We are managing the business much more tightly to make sure we remain financially robust.”
More: Cancellations starting to drop despite 40% rise last week, The Co-op Travel Consortium reports