Travel Counsellors has more agents than it did at the start of the pandemic, its chief executive has confirmed, citing the “resilience” of the business and the industry.
The homeworking group now has almost 2,000 travel counsellors, of whom about 1,400 are based in the UK, said Steve Byrne.
Speaking to Travel Weekly, he said: “We’ve currently got just shy of 2,000 travel counsellors globally, with about 1,400 in the UK.
“That’s about 50 or 60 more than at the start of the pandemic. We’ve lost about 100 and recruited about 150. That’s a really positive outcome and shows the resilience of the travel counsellor, reflecting the resilience many in the industry have shown.
“It’s born out of passion for the industry and the desire to stay doing what they love. It’s strengthened by knowing they’ve got customers saying ‘as soon as I can travel, I will’.”
Byrne said: “We have travel counsellors who have joined because they decided to leave something or were forced to leave something due to factors out of their control.”
He said the company had never set recruitment targets, adding: “We’ve never been interested in chasing numbers. It takes a certain type of person to back themselves to be self-employed.”
Travel Counsellors has operated a home-based model for its travel agents since it launched in 1994.
Commenting on the recent trend for homeworking, and the growing number of homeworking travel agency groups in the UK, Byrne said: “The move towards greater flexibility and smarter working has to be encouraged.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time. If people find a better home for themselves, and can have a better quality of life – either with us or another company – brilliant.”
But he said: “That’s not the strategic thing here. The key thing is the culture [of the business].
“It’s brilliant for people to have choice. Our job is to make sure we attract the very best.”