NEWS


GOLDEN GLOBES: The shortlists have been unveiled for the 2024 Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards, the most prestigious accolades in the travel industry. The lists were created based on nominations from frontline travel sellers, and reflect the companies, brands and destinations that have done the most to support their trade partners and customers over the past year. They are published in a special supplement included with this week’s edition of T


ravel Weekly. Agents have until December 8 to


cast their votes at globetravelawards.co.uk, ahead of the ceremony at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London hotel, in partnership with consumer media partner Hearst UK on January 11. Lucy Huxley, T


ravel Weekly editor-in-chief, said: “The


Globe Travel Awards are the highlight of the industry calendar, and the response we receive from our agent readers during the nomination and voting stages, as well as the reaction of the winners on the night, truly shows how highly the awards are regarded.”


Firms focus on training to tackle ongoing recruitment challenges


Ian Taylor


Recruitment remains the single biggest challenge facing high street travel retailers despite an easing of the acute staff shortages following pandemic restrictions being lifted last year. Fred Olsen Travel retail


director Paul Hardwick told a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast at Abta’s Travel Convention in Bodrum: “Recruitment is the issue that has had the biggest impact. “How do we bring people in? And


when we bring people in, it takes time to train them. We saw it as a barrier to our expansion, so we came up with a mini academy scheme with a training provider. It’s a three-month programme that takes training duties away from existing staff while new people learn about the job.” Hardwick noted “lots” of recruits


travelweekly.co.uk


are new to travel but “have sales or customer service experience” and reported: “We have seven training now and plan to take eight to 12 a year.” Claire Evans, chief operating


STORY TOP


officer for travel channels at The Midcounties Co-operative, agreed, saying: “We started in a terrible place [post-pandemic]. We’re in a more stable place now and looking to universities [for recruits].” She said: “We’re


seeing people move across functions. People want flexibility


and purposeful work. We’ve moved people from homeworking to stores and vice versa.” Evans added: “We have massive


growth plans and will be recruiting hard from the new year.” Dawson & Sanderson managing


director Annelene Hutton told the Business Breakfast: “We still have vacancies in retail, so we’ve gone back


to training and development. We’re bringing in about 10 people a year and doing a lot of internal training. “We’ve also restarted our


apprenticeship programme. We have eight apprentices now and will take a minimum of 10 each year.” Hutton added: “We’ve done a


full restructure of the business and assessed every job, giving everyone a pay grading and increased wages. “We want to be one of the


better-paid agencies. But it’s not just about pay, it’s about being listened to and feeling part of the business.” Hardwick agreed: “We have a lot


of staff who’ve been with us years. We’ve made cost-of-living payments, but it’s about what you add to that.” The Travel Network Group chief


executive Gary Lewis noted: “The culture I came into in the 1990s was very transactional. But people want more than that, more than just selling holidays.”


Speaking on a webcast following


the rescue of Online Travel Training by Travel Weekly parent Jacobs Media Group last week, chairman Clive Jacobs said the desire to ensure the trade has continued access to high-quality training was key to the acquisition. “I’m passionate about the travel


industry, and agents in particular. Training is fundamental to the success of our industry and to the continuity and relevance of travel agents,” he said. “Agents perform a critical role, but they need to be trained.” Travel Weekly released the


10th edition of its annual careers publication Take Off in Travel this week. The prospectus-style magazine and website showcases the range of careers in the travel and tourism industries and is targeted at young


people and those switching sectors. i OTT acquisition, page 12 i T


ake Off in T ravel 2024, page 20 16 NOVEMBER 2023 5


PICTURE: Steve Dunlop


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