NEWS SPECIAL REPORT Award winners are outstanding 8


Agent Achievement Awards: Miles Morgan and Sandra Corkin were both honoured with an Outstanding Contribution to the Industry award. Amie Keeley and Juliet Dennis report


Sandra Corkin and Miles Morgan show off their Outstanding Contribution awards, flanked by Stuart Parish, Travel Weekly Group; Mark Bloxham, Wendy Wu Tours; and Lucy Huxley, Travel Weekly


Miles Morgan managing director, Miles Morgan Travel


Ever since he was 15 years old, Miles Morgan has wanted to be his own boss. Now, after more than 30


years in the trade – which has included rising from trainee to sales and marketing director at Tui (then Thomson) – he has been recognised with the industry’s highest individual travel agent honour. He was quick to congratulate


his staff for the part they have played in making his 15-strong agency chain successful. “There’s no magic formula,


but you have to have great staff,” Morgan said. “We have fantastic people and they are so committed. They want the best for their customers.” Miles Morgan Travel also won


the national High Street Large Agency of the Year and the Southwest England and South Wales – Large Agency awards. Before Morgan started his


first job in travel, he worked on


a market stall selling Adam Ant and Shakin’ Stevens badges in Devon. “I was 15 and I just knew I wanted to sell,” he recalled. He started as a trainee for


Pickfords Travel in Bideford and then spent 13 years with the Bakers Dolphin chain, working his way up from sales clerk to sales and marketing manager. From there he went to Going Places, where he ran its Matchmaker selling system. At Travel House, which had just been bought by Tui (then Thomson), Morgan was managing director. He then worked in a variety of roles at Thomson, including sales and marketing director. He left in 2006 to go it alone and opened Miles Morgan Travel. “I always wanted my own business,” he said. “Sales have grown every year.


I have worked hard, but I’m lucky – it’s not really a job, it’s something I enjoy.”


Sandra Corkin managing director, Oasis Travel


Northern Ireland-based Sandra Corkin celebrated her 40th year in travel in style by picking up one of the most-coveted awards in the travel industry. Corkin stepped straight


from school into a travel agency aged 16, and opened her first shop in 1984 aged just 21. She has grown her business both organically and through acquisition, going on to win a string of awards on the local and national stage. Oasis Travel comprises six shops, in Belfast, Lisburn, Holywood and Bangor; an appointment-only Portfolio division for upscale travel experiences; and a dedicated cruise business, Cruise Beyond. Last year, it acquired rival Northern Ireland travel agency Knock Travel, merging it with Oasis. Corkin said winning the


award was particularly special as it coincided with the 29th anniversary of the death of her father. He owned an electrical goods business, and gave Corkin the money to set up her own agency. “This is my 40th year in


travel so this is an amazing way to celebrate,” Corkin said. “I have an incredible team


and I couldn’t have done it without them.” Oasis Travel employs 55


staff. Six members of staff who joined in the 1980s still work for the agency. “They’ve been in the business so many years; we’ve grown up together,” said Corkin. “Thank you for choosing


me [for this award], because there are so many fantastic people in our industry. “I am just thrilled that it was thought I deserved it.” › AAAs special, pages 16-31


12 travelweekly.co.uk 26 July 2018


PICTURE: STEVE DUNLOP


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