30 Under 30: Meet Ellie Fowler
Ellie Fowler, director of The Travel Business, tells Madeleine Barber how she’s built a successful travel agency in South Wales and why she was so driven to do so
There aren’t many people that can say they launched a successful business venture aged 23, but Ellie Fowler is one such person. She opened The Travel Business, a high-street travel agency based in Newport, South Wales, four years ago and has since grown annual turnover from £200,000 to £1 million in the space of just two years.
How? “There’s not a marketing strategy I don’t think I’ve tried,” the now-27-year-old laughs. “Some of them work, some of them don’t!”
Ellie puts the majority of the agency’s success down to word of mouth, social media and a lot of hard work. Unusually, she cites LinkedIn as the most successful platform for her, having grown her following to 20,000.
“People trust me on there, maybe because it’s a more serious platform, and they come to me for both business and personal travel,” she says, adding that group bookings were also a large contributor to the agency’s growth.
KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY
Launching The Travel Business seemed inevitable for Ellie since her parents have been in the industry her whole lifetime, owning a travel agency together until 15 years ago when her father took it on solo.
Although Ellie did a degree in teaching, she says she knew she “needed” to run a travel business: “I have a passion for business and a passion for travel so [opening an agency] was a no-brainer.”
Her father partnered with her to launch The Travel Business and has been a constant support, offering Ellie the best advice she’s ever been given: “don’t give up and don’t get disheartened – you’re never going to win every customer, but don’t drop your worth”.
What’s more, it seems the business owner hasn’t lost her optimistic attitude during this challenging year. Before the Covid-19 pandemic took hold Ellie says business was booming, she was beginning to think about expanding the agency with more branches and both her and her agency were winning awards.
“We were finally getting the recognition that we deserved,” she says. But it’s clear Ellie hasn’t let Covid-19 dampen her drive or curb her ambition.
“[The pandemic] has had a huge impact on business and morale, like it has for everybody, but as much as we moan about it you just have to stay positive,” she says. “I can’t wait to grow [The Travel Business] to a size where I don’t have to be the sales force any more, where I have a strong team to run and where we’re winning more awards.”
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
