Barrhead Travel’s President Jacqueline Dobson has said the business is on track for a record-breaking year, with trading up 12% compared to 2023.
Opening the company’s second overseas conference, in Ibiza, this week, Jacqueline said she was ‘thrilled with such incredible results’, adding the company has seen nine consecutive recording breaking months and is set to exceed all targets.
Jacqueline told the conference: “Demand for travel is not slowing down. The summer was characterised by a high lates market which, in large part, was due to the weather, which contributed to great sales.
“I couldn’t be any prouder. It’s not been plain sailing over the past 12 months what with the cost of living crisis, global unrest, freak weather, dozens of global general election and not forgetting the Microsoft outage. I couldn’t be more thrilled with such incredible results.”
Sales and Marketing Director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said Barrhead’s various divisions are performing well. Touring & adventure has seen a 32% boost in sales compared to 2023, with the most popular destinations being Canada, South Africa and Thailand.
Cruise has seen a 13% sales growth with the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Northern Europe and Alaska the top performing destinations. Within the sector, river cruise has also seen a 43% boost in bookings. The USA division launched earlier this year and sales are up 7%.
Nicki said one of the company’s largest successes for 2024 was from its social media strategy, after launching a stand-alone social media sales team.
She said: “We had hoped to achieve 100,000 followers by the end of the year, but we hit that in August and sales [via social media] are up 105%. Authentic, relatable and trending content has been at the heart of our success. We now have the opportunity to utilise Instagram as a serious platform.”
Jacqueline also revealed its new Northern Ireland store will open in the next couple of months in Newtownabbey, near Belfast, and the company has hired Lisa Hamill as its Regional Sales Manager for Northern Ireland.
While she didn’t disclose any further expansion plans or locations, she said: “We know there is ample opportunity for expansion in this region, so just watch this space. New locations are carefully considered and its not our intention to open on every high street. We don’t believe the biggest amounts to the being the best, so we have forks in quality locations where we can recruit and nurture the best talent.”
This year Barrhead has also invested £250k into refurbishing four of its Scottish stores, and in 2025 this will continue with a further five getting a makeover.
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Opening the company’s second overseas conference, in Ibiza, this week, Jacqueline said she was ‘thrilled with such incredible results’, adding the company has seen nine consecutive recording breaking months and is set to exceed all targets.
Jacqueline told the conference: “Demand for travel is not slowing down. The summer was characterised by a high lates market which, in large part, was due to the weather, which contributed to great sales.
“I couldn’t be any prouder. It’s not been plain sailing over the past 12 months what with the cost of living crisis, global unrest, freak weather, dozens of global general election and not forgetting the Microsoft outage. I couldn’t be more thrilled with such incredible results.”
Sales and Marketing Director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said Barrhead’s various divisions are performing well. Touring & adventure has seen a 32% boost in sales compared to 2023, with the most popular destinations being Canada, South Africa and Thailand.
Cruise has seen a 13% sales growth with the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Northern Europe and Alaska the top performing destinations. Within the sector, river cruise has also seen a 43% boost in bookings. The USA division launched earlier this year and sales are up 7%.
Nicki said one of the company’s largest successes for 2024 was from its social media strategy, after launching a stand-alone social media sales team.
She said: “We had hoped to achieve 100,000 followers by the end of the year, but we hit that in August and sales [via social media] are up 105%. Authentic, relatable and trending content has been at the heart of our success. We now have the opportunity to utilise Instagram as a serious platform.”
Jacqueline also revealed its new Northern Ireland store will open in the next couple of months in Newtownabbey, near Belfast, and the company has hired Lisa Hamill as its Regional Sales Manager for Northern Ireland.
While she didn’t disclose any further expansion plans or locations, she said: “We know there is ample opportunity for expansion in this region, so just watch this space. New locations are carefully considered and its not our intention to open on every high street. We don’t believe the biggest amounts to the being the best, so we have forks in quality locations where we can recruit and nurture the best talent.”
This year Barrhead has also invested £250k into refurbishing four of its Scottish stores, and in 2025 this will continue with a further five getting a makeover.
The post Barrhead Travel on track for record-breaking year appeared first on Travel Gossip.
Continue reading...
