A DAY WITH... OASIS TRAVEL, NORTHERN IRELAND


Amie Keeley was taken on a whirlwind tour of Northern Ireland’s largest independent agency


Oasis Travel’s Lisburn branch is something of a Tardis. There’s the shop floor and a couple of Portfolio suites for private appointments at the front. A tiny narrow stairway leads to an open-plan office with a boardroom table, private offices and staff kitchen. ‘Homeworkers’ occupy offices in former


cottages and an outdoor terrace hosts staff parties and client events. It goes on and on. Oasis Travel, the business, is like this office. On paper, it’s a six-branch agency specialising in cruise, but dig a little deeper and there is an infinite amount of activity going on beyond the shop floor. From client events, travel shows, media partnerships and sponsorship of sports teams, Oasis is everywhere it needs to be in the local community. At the heart of the business is founder and managing director Sandra Corkin. She opened her first shop in 1984 when she was 21 with the help of her late father. The agency now turns over £55 million annually and employs 55 staff. Last year Sandra’s success was recognised when she won the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry Award at Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards. She dedicated the award to her staff, many of whom joined in the 1980s and are still


working at the agency today, including Julie- Anne Vaughan who manages its appointment- only Portfolio brand, and Wendy Harper, who manages the Lisburn branch. Oasis is also a family business. Her brother


Gary is the financial director and her son Jason helps out when he is not at university. More recently, Sandra recruited Brendan Mallon as retail development manager. He has worked in the industry for 25 years, having begun his career at Thomas Cook. Last year, Oasis signed a new partnership with Belfast Telegraph Travel to fulfil land- based booking enquiries made through the newspaper’s travel brand. The partnership is overseen by Brendan who says every week in January was a record. Phone enquiries are handled by staff in the Ballyhackamore branch in an affluent part of east Belfast, which has also undergone significant changes in recent years. The agency of former rival Knock Travel, which was bought from owner Doreen McKenzie in 2017, rebranded to Oasis and moved next door. Sandra kept all the staff, including branch manager Pauline Suttle who has worked at the store for 40 years. “I came in to be Doreen’s secretary, but I lasted one day before being put on the shop floor,” she recalls.


Cruise Beyond Oasis opened Northern Ireland’s first cruise- only store Cruise Beyond in Belfast city centre this month. The shop features a virtual reality area that allows customers to explore Celebrity Edge. The technology was trialled at this year’s Belfast Holiday Show, resulting in 25 bookings. “It’s a big investment so I was relieved to


see how well it did and we’re hoping it will have the same effect in the shop,” Sandra says. Call centre staff, who were formerly based


at the Ballyhackamore branch, moved across to Cruise Beyond. There are also Portfolio suites at the site and a website is due to


Lynn Guest and


Angela Taylor at Cruise Beyond


30travelweekly.co.uk21 February 2019


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