CONFERENCE Fred Olsen Travel Conference 2024: Juliet Dennis reports from Chesham, Buckinghamshire


Fred Olsen Travel eyes 26% rise in revenue to £90m


F


red Olsen Travel’s retail division is targeting £90 million in turnover this year and £100 million


in 2025 as it continues to plan for ambitious growth. The retail division comprises 19


Fred Olsen Travel high street shops, 57 GoCruise & Travel franchisees and nine managed service licensees. Last year the division turned over


£71.5 million, a rise of £15.2 million on 2022, and £18.2 million up on its best pre-pandemic year. Retail director Paul Hardwick


revealed the goals at the company’s annual conference, where he unveiled plans for the 20th high street store,


set to open in June as a concept store in Ringwood, Hampshire. Hardwick said the final five of its


planned 25 shops were due to open in the next 18 months, and revealed “two or three” of these would be concept shops. The company has grown from


just eight high street shops a decade ago, when it delivered a £13 million turnover. It expanded out of East Anglia into Dorset and Hampshire in 2015 and Sussex in 2022, and made a number of acquisitions. Hardwick said the addition of


franchisees and shops in the second half of this year would help the company attain its turnover targets.


Atas director urges agents to highlight the experiences of touring and adventure trips


Agents have been urged to hone in on the experience element of a holiday to clinch a sale in the touring and luxury sectors. Speaking on a panel, Claire


Brighton, account director of the Association of Touring & Adventure Suppliers (Atas), said: “Touring and adventure holidays offer such a wide range of experiences – it would be unusual not to find an experience your customers are looking for.” Agents do not


need to say “straight away” the holiday is by coach, for example, she said, adding that


10 2 MAY 2024


many Atas members limit the time clients spend on board. Lloyd Morris, Riviera Travel key


account manager for the UK and Ireland, highlighted the authentic experiences available. “It might be afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace Hotel that you can’t do on a [standard] tour of Madeira,” he said. Mark Godden, sales manager


south for Oceania Cruises, said the small-ship experience allowed clients to indulge specific interests in a way they could not on other holidays. “It might be a culinary sailing along the coast of Japan or doing yoga at sunrise,” he said.


Claire Brighton


“We have some ambitious growth


targets. We are 14% ahead of last year [so far this year] and the aim is to see that gap [with last year] widen as we get out of peaks,” he said. The company wants to grow


the number of GoCruise & Travel franchisees with more agents that fit its existing business model, he said. It has already taken on five new franchisees this year and is aiming for a further four by the end of the year. “We want to scale the business


to become more commercial and competitive and we can then attract more people,” he noted, adding: “We are trying to build the GoCruise brand.” Further acquisitions are possible “if the right opportunity comes up”, he added. Looking beyond 2025, group


managing director Steve Williams said growth would be “market-led to an extent”, adding: “If it’s as buoyant as it looks now then we would like to continue growing.”


Group boss stresses the importance of


From left: Giles Hawke, Celebrity Cruises, with Fred Olsen Travel’s Steve Williams, Christina Astill, Lorna Neale, Ruth Venn and Paul Hardwick


recruitment and training to fuel growth Recruitment will be key to future growth of the Fred Olsen Travel group, according to managing director Steve Williams. The company has already taken on 23% more full-time equivalents


year on year and invested in its staff and training to support that growth, he told the conference. “The key factor for any business can be the success of the staff. We lost


people during the pandemic but we are now almost at a full complement of staff,” he said, noting: “We have a responsibility to bring people back into the industry and support careers [in travel].” Last year the company set up the Fred Olsen


Travel Academy, an in-house training academy. It currently has seven agents training to join its shop network. The group also has nine apprentices. A recent staff culture survey showed 89% of


staff were positively engaged with the company based on questions such as whether they would recommend the firm as a place to work and if they saw themselves working there for 12 months.


Steve Williams


travelweekly.co.uk


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