Brett and Orr set up recruitment


venture for industry casualties Industry veterans Kevin Brett and Gary Orr have joined forces to establish a venture designed to support travel industry workers hit by job cuts to find new employment. Top Network aims to help UK and overseas hospitality and tourism businesses quickly resource themselves with skilled and knowledgeable staff as the travel industry strives to recover. It matches individuals’ skills with businesses needing to quickly recruit for short-term projects.


ITE confirms redundancies


for its three part-time BDMs Independent Travel Experts, the homeworking division of The Travel Network Group, has confirmed its three part-time business development managers have been made redundant. Managing director Gary Gillespie said the responsibilities of Lorna Hardy, Pat Curtis and Steve Evans had been “centralised”. Agents will be supported by Gillespie, head of sales Kai-Yin Knapp and the marketing team.


Travel Directors sets up division


for mainstream homeworkers Luxury homeworking brand Travel Directors is launching a sister brand, Travel Managers. The new division will focus on mainstream travel and has been set up in response to the volume of applications Travel Directors was receiving from candidates “whose experience and market falls outside the criteria for that of a travel director”. Gary Pridmore, chief executive of parent firm Aquilium Travel, said he would cap each division at 100 agents. Travel Directors has 35 agents.


‘Devastated’ Thornton’s owners praise loyal staff


Juliet Dennis


The owners of Thornton’s Travel have paid tribute to staff for their “unwavering dedication” after the 80-year-old agency ceased trading due to the impact of Covid-19 on business. E Thornton & Son, which traded


as Thornton’s Travel, Thornton’s Cruise World and Thornton’s Travel Service, entered into voluntary insolvency and stopped taking bookings on September 30. The Bristol-based agency, which


employed 14 staff, celebrated its 80th anniversary in July. Owners Sarah Kelley and Lee


Morse said they were “devastated” at having to close the business due to the impact of the pandemic. They acquired a majority


shareholding in the business in 2016 from the wife of former owner Patrick Murphy, who had owned the business since 2000. Director Kelley said: “I cannot


thank the team enough for their unwavering dedication. Anyone who goes on to have a Thornton’s Travel member of staff working with them in the future will be very fortunate. “The Thornton’s team have


travelweekly.co.uk


always been like a family, with people like myself starting with the company on a youth training scheme. “Most of the staff have been with


the company 10 years or more.” Kelley paid tribute to the former


owner and managers and directors past and present and said many in the trade would have been touched by the news of the agency’s closure. She added: “Many a tear has


been shed and the kindest words said. Patrick Murphy was very highly respected. Lee and I always wanted


Looking back: Thornton’s teams through the years


to make him proud and carry on the Thornton’s Travel name.” The agency was founded in


1948 and was originally owned by a shipping company in Avonmouth. It was the first to operate a charter


flight to New York from Bristol on a Boeing 707. At the start of the UK lockdown,


staff assisted stranded travellers to get home through the Helping You Get Home initiative with the Focus


Travel Partnership. i Get Social, page 27


8 OCTOBER 2020 9


‘She speaks for all of us’: agents echo Kate Harris


The travel industry has rallied in support of one-shop agency owner Kate Harris after her account of her struggle to keep her business afloat made national headlines. Harris, owner of Inspired Travel


in Leicestershire, took part in a Travel Weeklywebcast to discuss the impact of the chancellor’s Job Support Scheme on travel and shed tears as she explained how the programme would not help her to pay her sole employee. Her story was picked up by


MailOnline and the Mirror. Harris’s bravery was praised by


others in the trade. Issy Wiggins, owner of Goeasy Travel, said: “So many travel agent owners feel the same pain. The light at the end of the tunnel just keeps moving.” Paul Philpott, of Beacon Travel


Service Worldchoice, said: “To be that articulate with that emotion, she speaks for all of us struggling to hold on.” Holidaysplease homeworker Amanda Slade said the video was “utterly heartbreaking”.


Kate


Harris on webcast


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44