Travel Counsellors has surpassed £1 billion in annual sales for the first time amid strong demand for trips abroad.
Sales to leisure customers during the 12 months to August 23 contributed £735 million to the personal holiday planner’s revenue, while it also reported £265 million in corporate sales, largely to small and medium-sized businesses.
A post-pandemic boom in holidays has helped the company to expand significantly as people prioritise spending on tourism and personalised travel services.
Founded in 1994 by David Speakman, Travel Counsellors started out as a bricks-and-mortar travel agency in northwest England. He then came up with the idea of having travel planners working from home. The business now operates a platform that supports more than 2,100 self-employed advisers under a franchise model.
“The essence of the business model is about the travel counsellor building a relationship with you. I think people crave and want to be able to buy services and consumer services from people that they can build a trusting relationship with,” Steve Byrne, 59, the chief executive, said.
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“As far as the consumer is concerned, we look after both leisure customers, people who want to go on holiday, and also corporate customers, people who own and look after small to medium-sized businesses.”
For leisure customers, Travel Counsellors helps people to plan holidays ranging from city breaks in Europe to cruises, honeymoons and trips to locations such as Costa Rica, Hong Kong and Mauritius. The company recorded more than 155,000 leisure bookings in the 12 months to August, with an average value of £4,717. It also reported more than 164,000 corporate bookings with an average value of £1,577.
“Where we think we differentiate ourselves is in the personalised relationship between the travel counsellor and the customer, handcrafting something that’s right for you, keeping in touch with you and making sure we’re taking great care of you and they’re able to do that supported by our tech platform,” Byrne said.
After reaching the milestone of £1 billion in sales, Travel Counsellors is hoping to make the most of the increase in travel demand to double its revenues in the next five years. “That plan is broadly predicated on us doing what we’re currently doing, which is attracting really great people to run their own travel business using the Travel Counsellors platform and growing our premium leisure and corporate market mainly organically,” Byrne said.
The company is owned by Vitruvian Partners, a private equity firm that acquired Travel Counsellors from Equistone Partners Europe in a secondary management buyout in 2018. Vitruvian bought Travel Counsellors in a deal worth about £250 million, which ended Speakman’s interest in the group.
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The leisure destinations in highest demand over the 12-month period included the Mediterranean, the United States and southeast Asia. Travel Counsellors has also reported a 70 per cent increase in demand for trips to Japan, while cruise holidays contributed nearly £50 million in sales during the 12 months to August 23.
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