NEWS — HOT STORIES 2
Grant champions value of tourism in election run-up
Ian Taylor
Sports and tourism minister Helen Grant has pledged to make the industry the focus of her final two months in office after telling Travel Weekly: “This government gets tourism.” Grant has been responsible for tourism at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since October 2013. But her portfolio has also included sport, gambling, licensing and the National Lottery, as well as equalities. Her term of office will end on
March 30, ahead of the election on May 7. But the minister will spend the next two months touring the country, stressing the value of tourism and the importance of the jobs, skills and training it provides. Other government departments appear to be pulling out the stops in the run-up to the election, with the Department for Transport and the Treasury urging regional airports to bid for up to £17.5 million in funding this year and £56 million over three years to develop new routes. The cash, from the Regional Air Connectivity Fund, is open to airports with
fewer than five million passengers a year, and is in addition to £10 million from the Regional Growth Fund to market the north of England.
VisitEngland chief executive James Berresford hailed the support, saying: “This is a great opportunity for regional airports. It provides a fantastic opportunity to drive more visitors direct to the regions.” But the Tourism Alliance hit out at ministers, saying funds to attract visitors could be rendered “useless” by Air Passenger Duty (APD). Chairman Ufi Ibrahim called it “perverse” to allocate funds “with the aim of bringing more international tourists to northern England when the devolution of APD to the Scottish parliament makes northern England’s airports uncompetitive and they have to close international routes”. ❯ APD ‘devolved’, page 8 ❯ Helen Grant interview, back page
3 Juliet Dennis
Barrhead Travel has embarked on a £1.5 million recruitment drive to fill 100 new sales roles and aims to take on at least 50 further agents for five planned shop openings later this year. Managing director Jacqueline Dobson said the investment was a
direct response to increased demand. The 100 jobs are for staff in Barrhead’s shops, call centres and
homeworking division. Barrhead has created about 30 roles in its Glasgow stores, 15 at stores in the Gyle, St James and Cameron Toll shopping centres in Edinburgh, and 40 across its call centres in Larbert and Cumbria. The remainder are for modern apprentice roles and salaried homeworkers UK-wide. Barrhead is also planning three new stores in Edinburgh, and “a couple more” this year, taking its portfolio of 56 shops to more than 60. One of the new shops, on the west coast of Scotland, is due to open within “two to three months”, said Dobson. Employees recruited for these stores will be in addition to the 100 agents currently being sought. Shops are hosting open evenings as part of the recruitment
drive, where potential employees can have an initial interview. Dobson added: “We have already seen a lot of interest from
across the UK, not just Scotland. It has been one of the better responses we have had.” She said Barrhead was not looking to poach staff from rivals and
candidates needed the right attitude, not necessarily travel experience. The roles are full and part-time, offering “competitive” salaries,
uncapped commission earning potential, overtime payments and training. Some are for specialist product or destination roles.
29 January 2015 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 5
Clockwise from top left: Frank Laing,
Molly Curlie, Yvonne McIntyre, Christine Kennedy and Shauneen Curran, from Barrhead’s Oswald Street store in Glasgow
Barrhead to recruit 150 staff and open five stores
“We have already seen
a lot of interest from across the UK”
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