New travel agency chain Horizon Holidays is to focus on gaining a foothold in the Midlands before embarking on its broader expansion plan across the UK.
The agency has already revealed a target of more than 50 stores within the next five to 10 years.
The first Horizon Holidays and Travel Money concession officially opened in a Morrisons supermarket in St Andrew’s Shopping Park in Birmingham this month following a soft launch at the end of last year.
The branch, part of Advantage Managed Services, has five staff.
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Managing director Hamza Waris, whose family has owned nearby Pak Travel for 55 years, said potential sites in other Morrisons stores in the Midlands had already been identified and were under consideration. He hopes to open a second concession before the end of this year.
But he stressed there was no reason the agency could not look to open stores farther afield in the longer term and did not rule out opening in high street locations.
He told Travel Weekly: “We want to focus on the Midlands first and then go to other parts of the UK.
We are looking at a lot of Morrisons stores – it’s just about making sure it’s the right fit for us and for Morrisons
“We’d rather grow from a position of strength but we could potentially go up north to Scotland or farther south. There is no reason why we couldn’t go on the high street if there’s the right opportunity; nothing is ruled out.
“We are looking at a lot of Morrisons stores. It’s just about making sure it’s the right fit for us and for Morrisons. We can scale up more aggressively once we have got it right. It’s very exciting.”
Waris said the first store was trading well, adding that its hybrid approach of high-tech and traditional face-to-face appointments was helping to draw in customers.
The store has four digital screens – one of which Morrisons shoppers can see from the tills – featuring a rolling 30-minute video of deals and destination images. There is also a virtual reality booth with headsets to experience destinations remotely.
Waris said there was a bright future for agents in shops, provided they were contactable via different channels.
“What we saw in Covid was that people wanted to come back and talk to agents and call up,” he said.
“As agents, we are valued more, but it’s about being accessible.
“We’ve had customers who saw an offer from watching our video while at Morrisons’ tills and booked a holiday within 15 minutes. But if people are in a rush, we can use our NFC (near-field communication) card to give them our contact details.”
More: Agency outlines plans for 50 branches within Morrisons stores