InteleTravel agent Deborah Young has won £1,000 in business support from Virgin Voyages to set up her own pop-up shop to sell holidays in her community.
Currently a psychiatric nurse in Dundee, she hopes to develop her fledgling travel business into a full-time role, after joining the homeworking agency in July.
She won the funding during a ‘pitch to the bridge’ contest with Virgin Voyages, held on the first morning of the two-day InteleTravel conference in Valencia.
Four InteleTravel agents were invited on stage to pitch their ideas for developing their business to Virgin Voyages’ Shane Lewis-Riley, UK and Australia associate vice-president, and Luke Day, national training lead.
Young told the audience she would buy a gazebo and other equipment such as a printer, banners and business cards to enable her to bring her business into the community.
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Lewis-Riley said the other agents who had pitched ideas will be given £500 for their plans.
Louise Barwell, a full-time midwife, said she hoped to spend the money on giveaway promotions to spread the word about her travel services on social media beyond her current core market of friends and family.
Lisa Duffy, an accountant from Birmingham, wanted the money to invest in courses to learn about travel blogging, photography and new social media channels such as TikTok.
The fourth agent, Jacqueline Davis, said she had been made redundant from a corporate role last year and was working full time on developing her agency.
She wanted to offer face-to-face consultations in her rural Lincolnshire community by developing her garden summer house into an office with brochures and marketing material.
Pictured: Young with InteleTravel co-founder and president James Ferrara.