Agencies report strong January end Andrew McQuarrie


Barrhead Travel, InteleTravel and Not Just Travel were among the large agency groups reporting record-breaking January performances this week, though smaller firms shared mixed experiences including a challenging family market. The payday weekend was


credited by some for a significant uplift in sales, with The Travel Network Group’s homeworking arm Independent Travel Experts (ITE) reporting an almost 60% increase in bookings compared with the previous weekend. Barrhead Travel said its annual


Back to the Floor Day on Saturday coincided with its best trading day ever.


Not Just Travel stated it had four


times as many record-breaking sales days in January compared with last year, while InteleTravel revealed Thursday, January 29, was its first £2 million sales day. Not Just Travel founder Steve


Witt said growth in cruise sales was outstripping land product as he insisted: “We’re not just keeping pace with the market; our sales are growing at a faster rate.” Barrhead Travel, which arranged


for 80 members of its head office team to join frontline agents in branches, revealed bookings on Saturday were up 37% year on year, capping a month that delivered growth “across all areas”. InteleTravel said its January


bookings rose by 44% year on year


Bumper sales spark plans for more shops and homeworkers


Samantha Mayling


Agencies plan to open more shops and take on homeworkers this year following bumper sales in January, a Travel Weekly webcast revealed. Seaside Travel is considering two


new branches and about 20 more homeworkers, while Ashdown Travel is eyeing two more retail outlets. Nicola Park, Seaside Travel


owner, said she was “over the moon” with a 33% increase in peak sales for her agency, which has 13 shops and 58 homeworkers. Tricia Lester, head of retail at


four-branch Ashdown Travel, hailed a greater focus on luxury as she


4 5 FEBRUARY 2026


said: “All our branches in January absolutely smashed their targets… we’ve been blown away.” Gary Gillespie, managing director


at Independent Travel Experts (ITE), part of The Travel Network Group, said momentum had built throughout January and the team of 140 homeworkers had also “absolutely smashed” their target. “We ended up 27% up on last


year, which was already our best sales year ever in January,” he said. Gillespie added that ITE was


“growing rapidly”, with the biggest growth area being new-to-travel, thanks to a 12-week introductory programme launched in 2023.


The final week of the month delivered a clear uplift on the previous seven days, with trading up 5%


and revenues grew by 35%, with cruise revenues up 67% year on year. Gary Gillespie, managing director


of ITE, said: “The final week of the month delivered a clear uplift on the previous seven days, with trading up by almost 5% overall.” He added that both days of the


weekend performed “well ahead of normal expectations”. La Vida Travel owner Karen Marin Reyes said last month was


“outstanding” for the agency’s Newport shop, adding: “We’ve done more than ever.” Buckley Travel owner Jacqui


Bowring said it had been the business’s top-performing January, while Johnny Fielding, owner of Northern Ireland-based agency JF Travel, said bookings were up compared with last January, but one market sector was less buoyant. “Our biggest issue was the


family market [last month] – it was definitely slower,” he said. Highlighting pricing as a key


barrier, he noted: “There aren’t a lot of families with £4,000 lying around.” Sunlounger Travel co-director


Iain Kirkbright described last month as “steady”, adding: “I wouldn’t say it set the world alight.”


Nicola Park


Tricia Lester Park “held off” taking on


homeworkers due to peaks but will ramp up recruitment “very shortly”. “We’ve got an eye on two shops


that we’re currently negotiating,” she added. “We’ve got to have the right fit and the right village.” She said she doesn’t want the agency to get so big that she doesn’t know everybody, but added: “There’s nothing to stop us getting to 100 homeworkers.” Lester agreed location is key: “We


are not rushing it; it’s got to be the right location and the right fit for Ashdown. We’re not gung-ho but we could add another two. “We are talking to somebody, but at the moment it’s very early doors.”


Gary Gillespie


John Sullivan John Sullivan, Advantage Travel


Partnership commercial director, said the consortium’s members are seeing organic growth and opening more shops. He noted the lines between homeworking and retail agents are beginning to “blur”. “Somebody may work in a shop


two days a week and from home three days a week…we have a considerable growing number of those people,” he said.


Watch the webcast with editor-in-chief Lucy Huxley at travelweekly.co.uk


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURES: Alex Maguire; Sarah Lucy Brown


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