NEWS 1,600 delegates at its first conference in three years. Robin Murray reports from Liverpool


Guest host Sir Lenny Henry


Byrne hails agent resilience as turnover reaches £800m


T


ravel Counsellors reported a turnover of £800 million in the past year, which its chief executive attributed to the way its agents looked after their customers during the pandemic. Steve Byrne praised the resilience shown by the


agency’s homeworkers as he revealed the scale of the firm’s post-Covid recovery. “You have just been absolutely incredible; you are all


amazing for what you did during Covid,” he said. “It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the people, but


let me use the numbers to illustrate it. “In the year 2019-20, had it not been for Covid, the


company would have turned over about £675 million – in the 12 months just gone, the company has turned over £800 million.” Byrne went on to say this bounce-back was in part due


to the “sacrifices” homeworkers made for their customers during the pandemic.” He added: “We’ve seen one of the most rapid recoveries in business after one of the most drastic declines – and that’s because of the way you looked after your customers. “This community navigated one of the worst things


you could expect to experience in business, one of the most challenging things you could ever have to endure, which makes me so proud.” Byrne later said he was “humbled” to serve the


company’s homeworkers as their chief executive as their


Kirsten Hughes


businesses are “incredible”, adding he believes there is opportunity to grow them. “You can go to great heights within the Travel


Counsellors community; we want you to be able to scale your business with us, if you want to,” he told delegates. UK managing director Kirsten Hughes described the


agency’s bounce-back year as “remarkable”. “The demand came back thick and fast and many of


you had your best-ever years, which is brilliant,” she said. “You’ve barely had time to pause and take stock of your


businesses as you’ve just been so busy processing booking after booking; you’ve all smashed it and I want to be back here next year high-fiving everyone again.”


‘Brand refresh to boost bookings and recruitment’


Travel Counsellors has announced it is working on a brand refresh, which it hopes to unveil in full early next year. The “evolution” of the brand was revealed


platform – a 45% increase compared with 2019.” Phenix has processed more than £3 billion in sales since


its launch and currently showcases about 500,000 hotels. Bauer also revealed the agency is upgrading the “big,


heavy, cumbersome laptops” previously provided with a choice of six tablets and laptops, paid for by commission. New hardware will be sent to those who wish to upgrade


from December 1.


by customer director Dave Callan, who is optimistic the project will “sharpen” the brand experience. “The business is bouncing back in a


really strong way and the performance of the business is growing, which means it’s maturing at pace,” said Callan, who joined Travel Counsellors in April. “We therefore recognise the opportunity


to mature the brand and to sharpen our brand experience.”


travelweekly.co.uk Callan said it was “not a vanity project”


but an opportunity to “realise value in the market and in the current business”. He is hopeful the revamp can have a


positive impact on both booking rates for current agents and recruitment. “By doing a better job of telling


everyone who we are and what we do, we can evoke more interest in value, which will convert customers in a more positive way,” he added. Callan said the rebrand would play


a key role in achieving the “ambitious targets” Travel Counsellors has set itself for 2023.


17 NOVEMBER 2022 13


Steve Byrne


PICTURES: Simon Wright Photography


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