NEWS THE CO-OPERATIVE TRAVEL CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE 2015
The Co-operative Travel Consortium’s third annual conference held last week had a theme of ‘Making a Difference’ and was attended by 62 members. Amie Keeley reports from Manchester
Alison Holmes
Midcounties seeks to grow via start-ups and franchises
Midcounties Co-operative Travel announced plans to fund Co-operative start-ups and franchise shops as it looks to increase revenue to £370million in the next three years.
The group also aims to offer business travel via its homeworkers, who are said to be “queueing up” to book corporate travel for clients. Alistair Rowland, group general manager for travel, said: “We want
“If you’ve got the right people and a good history the power of shops is still there
to hear from travel start-ups, whether that be agencies, tour operators, suppliers – any travel business. We will support and fund them as Co-operatives.” He said he hopes the first of these will be launched next year. “We’re also looking for potential
owners who could work with us on a franchise basis of the Co- operative Travel brand,” he added. Rowland said these plans “felt
Alistair Rowland
like the next natural stage” for the business. Both nationwide trials will go live next year. Addressing members of The Co-operative Travel Consortium at their annual conference in Manchester last week, Rowland said he “firmly believes in the future of shops”, later adding: “If you’ve got the right
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travelweekly.co.uk 10 December 2015
people and a good history, the power of shops is still there. We are having a record year in shops, both in sales and profitability.” He said there were still significant opportunities to grow in all channels to market. Other initiatives announced
for 2016 include plans to find a partner to create a luxury retail brand, to launch city-break and coach holiday programmes, and to create an academy to introduce inexperienced business owners to the Personal Travel Agent model. Rowland declined to publicise
profit figures but said the business needed to be more profitable. He cited the limited regional
reach of Midcounties’ shops and recruiting in the south of England as among the challenges it faced. Commenting on the joint
venture between Thomas Cook and Co-op Travel which is due to end next autumn, Rowland said: “We hope to keep the dialogue open with any opportunities to keep the Co-op brand strong and extend its reach geographically.”
In-house tour operation site to launch in January
A new in-house tour operation offering dynamically packaged products for Midcounties Co-operative agents and consortium members will go live in January. Co-operative Holidays
packages will focus on core destinations including Spain, Portugal and Greece, and include “hand-selected” properties and major hotel chains. The system will allow agents
to select departure airports, while hotels are mapped on Google with options to view inside the accommodation. Early-booking discounts will
be offered along with deposits of £60. Group general manager for
travel Alistair Rowland said: “Within the group, operating a wholesale business will boost the profitability of the group.” He said the package
holidays would be promoted to consortium members and Personal Travel Agents, but “not forced”, adding: “We still see independence for our agents as being crucial to their offer.”
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