24.05.12 News BACKING THE HIGH STREET


‘High street not dead, but it has changed’


THE FOUNDER of Barrhead Travel has championed TTG’s Trust in Travel Agents: Backing Your High Street campaign, insisting that there is still a place on the high street for agents. Writing for ttgdigital.com, Bill


Munro, chairman of Barrhead Travel, said since the recession, the company had experienced “unprecedented growth”, opening more than 20 branches over the last three years. “We have doubled our turnover,


expanded into Ireland and England, and put down roots in Europe and north America,” he said. “As a high street-based business, could we have achieved this if the high street was really dead?” Munro urged agents to embrace the internet and said social media had helped support his business, by enabling Barrhead to converse with customers before or after visiting the store. “The high street is not dead, but it has changed,” he added.


■Read Bill Munro’s comments in full on ttgdigital.com


The travel company is looking to open 20 stores across the John Lewis portfolio Kuoni/Lewis deal to catch on Sophie Griffiths


TRUSTIN TRAVEL AGENTS


Time Travel


Fresh attempts were to be made to solve the deadlock over the proposed world body of` travel agents, despite the rejection by the International Federation of Travel Agencies of plans put forward by British and American agents. Both the American Society of Travel Agents and Abta again made it clear that they had no intention of joining FIAV, or of recognising the latter’s claim to act as a negotiating body on a worldwide scale.


50


KUONI’S NEW partnership with John Lewis, which could see it opening up to 20 shops in the department stores over the next three years, may trigger other travel companies to follow suit, a branding expert has said. Speaking to TTG last week, Kuoni managing director Derek Jones said the new agreement was a “long-term partnership” rather than a pilot. The deal will see four concessions open in John Lewis stores, in Oxford Street, Reading, Southampton and Cardiff, in September and October 2012. Branding expert Danny


Crowe, founder of consultancy Friday Travel, said this tie-up


was “the next logical step for Kuoni”. “It was a really good move. The


brand association of John Lewis is a real benefit, but if they share each other’s databases, that will be the real winner. “Other travel companies will follow,” he added. “People are looking for new distribution channels, and there is an opportunity to work with retail entities, such as supermarkets or coffee shops.” Crowe said travel firms should look to capitalise on “affinity partnerships” similar to Kuoni and John Lewis. “Customers will see Kuoni as a brand which John Lewis is recommending,” he said. Jones said Kuoni hoped to judge the success of the partnership by the middle of next year, and then “decide the scale of expansion”.


“Our view would be to get towards


20 stores – we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we would want to roll out new shops fairly quickly,” he added.


Jones admitted it was an


interesting time to make the move, and acknowledged that it remained a “difficult period” for the high street, but he insisted there was still a market for retail. “We always watch trends closely and John Lewis has bucked the trend – it has seen revenue grow, while the Kuoni retail story has been a real success with significant footfall in our 21 stores over the last few years. “It is a difficult period for the high


street but it goes back to core values and there is still a place for great customer service,” he said.


The TTG archives: 50, 25 & 5 years ago


May 25, 1962 “World body talks to continue despite split”


as Worldchoice agreed to recommend a merger with the Global Travel Group. The Worldchoice board was to enter into a period of consultation with its members before putting the merger proposal to a vote at an extraordinary general meeting later in the year.


5


The trade closed ranks against Barclays’ Connect Card and formed a working party to look at other payment schemes. Travel Agents’ Council chairman Colin Brain said: “Reductions in our agency earnings must be resisted.”


25 24.05.2012 07


May 28, 1987 “It’s battle stations for Connect”


May 25, 2007 “Three’s a crowd” Advantage looked set to go it alone


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