Former Tailor Made chief regains Blue Skies Travel


Lucy Huxley


The former chief executive of Welsh miniple Tailor Made Travel has reacquired the premises and staff of Blue Skies Travel in Whitchurch, Cardiff. Simon Morgan confirmed that the


retail agency would continue to focus on high-value bookings, with a new mainstream brand called Flamingo Holidays initially operating via social media and online while a full OTA structure is developed. Tailor Made Travel entered


administration on September 3, with the business subsequently acquired by Hays Travel. Morgan said he had “negotiated the premises and staff of Blue Skies from administrators” after Hays returned the licence to occupy. He said: “Blue Skies Travel will


be a retail offering but we also plan to offer out-of-the-box solutions for the


with the operation primarily fulfilled by homeworkers and affiliate workers. He added that his broader plans for the business included shop openings and potential acquisitions but said he would not look at expanding before the spring. “The high street is not dead,” he


Simon Morgan


thousands of great people out there who through no fault of their own have become unemployed. This will begin with a simple affiliate referral programme and work up to a turnkey travel agency solution.” Morgan said he would develop


Blue Skies’ cruise club over the winter,


said. “It’s changed. Some towns have thriving communities and some have lost huge numbers of retailers. This presents expansion opportunities as rental prices are plummeting but you do have to measure this against similarly changing footfall figures.” Speaking about the failure of


Tailor Made Travel, Morgan said the 20-branch agency’s commitment to expansion meant it had forgone profits, and when the pandemic struck it was declined funding from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme as it was “unable to predict when revenues would normalise”.


Travel Counsellors rises up Sunday Times list


Travel Counsellors has been ranked 48th in this year’s Sunday Times Top Track 250 list, up from 85th in 2019. The homeworking agency made the list of mid-sized UK companies with the biggest sales for the sixth year running, and was also recognised in the “special Covid-19 edition” for having had a “positive response to the crisis”. It was praised for setting up a digital information hub for its homeworkers and expanding its welfare fund.


Manchester’s Omega Travel ceases trading


Hale-based agency Omega Travel ceased trading on September 25. The independent agency was founded by Ted Keen and Steve Watson in 1980 and had a shop in the Hale area of Greater Manchester. Abta said the majority of Omega’s holidays were sold as an agent and urged affected customers to contact operators direct. Omega also sold a “small number” of flights under its Iata licence.


Ex-Wallace Arnold agents set up White Rose Travel agency


Former Wallace Arnold Travel staff have opened an agency in place of one of their ex-firm’s old branches. White Rose Travel, in Castleford,


West Yorkshire, has been set up by former head of retail Natalie Collins and Michelle Metcalfe, who was regional manager for Yorkshire and the Midlands. They are co-directors of the new


business, which soft-launched on Saturday, and have employed the agency’s former branch manager Carol Sims on a part-time basis as well as the York branch’s former manager, Mark Addinall, who will work as a homeworker. Collins recalled the “shock” of


8 1 OCTOBER 2020


From far left: White Rose Travel’s Natalie Collins, Michelle Metcalfe, Mark Addinall and Carol Sims


the closure of 19-branch Wallace Arnold Travel as part of the collapse of parent firm Specialist Leisure Group in May and explained how she and Metcalfe were “heavily involved” in its expansion plans. On opening the new venture as


an Advantage Managed Services member, she said: “Castleford was always the top-performing branch [for Wallace Arnold Travel], so where better to start? We felt we had to take the opportunity.” Collins said the agency, which


opened on Monday, would “start small” given the current climate but wanted to take on more ex-Wallace Arnold Travel staff as it grows.


travelweekly.co.uk


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