A DAY WITH... TRAVEL WEEKLY ON THE ROAD


Amie Keeley @amiekeeley


Thanks for having me Thompson Travel and to Sharon for posing like this next to the brochure rack


ABOVE: Amie Keeley with Sharon Fleming


LEFT: Outside the shop in Craigavon, County Armagh


FAR LEFT: Aisling Hill, Amy Campbell, Caroline McCavanagh, Laura Forsythe and Sharon Fleming


a business with being a single mum, they went back down to one branch. In 2008, Sharon’s dad died on his 32nd visit to Israel leading tours. “I was partners with my dad, so I thought ‘is this what I want to do?’ I had lost my mentor and my dad. I was on my own in a growing company.” But Sharon turned it into something positive.


Future


She applied for a Dragon’s Den- style competition run by her consortium Advantage, which she won in 2013. She received free expertise to come up with a business plan for the future. “I had an established business and an Israeli tour business and an idea about another project – Travelling Alone Together (Tat). “When my dad died my mum


was left alone so this became very personal to me. “I held a coffee morning for single people and 72 people came. About a quarter were former customers who used to


book when they were in a couple.” Tat is one of three brands


Sharon has set up. The others are Faith Tours, Culture Tours and The Cruise Counter, which launched last year and allows customers to earn points and rewards. Having carved out a niche in


faith tours, Sharon is planning to sell these to other members of the trade in the next 18 months. “We have been approached by agencies who want to take tour groups and we’re recommended by the Israeli tourist board, plus we have exclusive partnerships with ground handlers. “In 25 years we understand how


to organise tours for religious groups that want to travel and see different things.” Sharon, like her father, hosts some of the tours as does Caroline McCavanagh, the agency’s groups co-ordinator.


Challenges The day-to-day challenges at this agency are familiar – the barrage of emails and information that


come through, being undercut by online pricing, and keeping up with changes to regulation. Sharon says the most common


question in January was about Brexit. “I don’t know if it’s a hindrance or if some are using it as an excuse not to travel.” And the Northern Ireland


backstop? Sharon is unphased. “If there’s a hard border then people will just need to allow an extra half hour to get to [Dublin] airport.”


Family History looks as if it will repeat itself with Sharon’s son, Jason, now a part of the business. After helping out part time, Jason has joined full-time managing marketing, finance and some selling on the front desk. Sharon says the plan is to take


a step back and let Jason take on more responsibilities while she focuses on the Faith Tours. “He has new ideas the way I did when my dad was here,” she says. So it looks as if Thomson Travel will come full circle.


AMIE’S DAY AT THOMPSON TRAVEL


with a customer when I arrived on sunny a weekday morning in January at Thompson Travel. If Brexit was hitting sales back then, you would have a hard time believing that was the case here. Despite not being in





the town centre, the shop benefits from being near a major hospital and residential area, plus it has free parking outside. After the morning rush,


staff had a reprieve to get on with finalising bookings and answer calls. The shop is bright pink


and turquoise, the same colours as the staff uniforms, and a brochure rack fills the main wall on one side where Sharon posed for our photo. There’s a foreign exchange booth and a seating area near the entrance, which has pamphlets promoting its in- house brands. When I arrive, owner


Sharon, who is still on the frontline, is with a customer. Afterwards, we sit down with a cuppa and she tells me her “life story”, as she puts it!


Every agent was busy


11 April 2019travelweekly.co.uk27


tw


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  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72