Barrhead Travel chief: 'We're thriving in uncertain times'
Ilaria Grasso MacolaJacqueline Dobson tells me, determinedly, that Barrhead Travel will have its best peaks ever in 2025 – and I have no reason not to believe her.
Dobson joined the Scottish independent in 2000 rising first to the role of managing director and then president, with her – and Barrhead’s – performance year after year earning her a promotion this year to head of parent Internova Travel Group’s leisure division.
“I think we’ll have another great peaks,” Dobson says. “We’re getting really geared up to do what we did last year and we’re hoping for even more growth.”
Barrhead broke its own sales records on several consecutive weekends this January, culminating in its best-ever Saturday on 20 January – a day which saw the agency’s management team join staff on the shopfloor.
"Next year, it will be 1 February when our managers, along with our partners, will be going back to the floor to hopefully drive another record,” sales and marketing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell chimes in, speaking to TTG at Barrhead’s conference in Ibiza.
Covid lessons learnt
My chat with Barrhead’s senior managers comes off the back of another encouraging year for the independent, with its cruise and touring divisions delivering some of their strongest results ever, particularly framed against travel’s emergence from the pandemic.
The agency has recorded nine consecutive record-breaking months in revenue terms despite ongoing cost of living challenges and geopolitical shocks, freak weather and global IT outages. "We’ve really learnt a lot from the pandemic, [especially] how to pull together and how to react to different situations,” Dobson explains.
Travel’s resilience will be tested again next month with the rollout of the EU’s new biometric border rules, which will require UK travellers crossing into the EU to give their fingerprints and submit a photo.
In the UK, the EU Entry-Exit System (EES) will impact those departing the Port of Dover, London’s St Pancras Station (for Eurostar) and Folkestone (for Eurotunnel), while those flying to EU destinations will have their biometrics taken at their arrival airport.
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Dobson’s no stranger to adversity though, telling me the agency hasn’t been resting on its laurels and has been working “really closely with the government and Abta” for some time on the issue.
However, Dobson says delays to the rollout and uncertainty about the implementation date (currently 10 November) has made it hard to keep staff up-to-speed on the information they need to give their clients accurate information.
“We need to make sure our customers are aware this is coming," she continues. "But until we have the actual clarification of when the EES rollout is taking place and what people need to do, we can’t do anything.
"We would like clarification [from the government] and some dates confirmed. We [also] need to work with our supplier partners to make sure that they’re well informed [about the new rules].”
Happy people, successful business
Despite the challenges that lie ahead, Barrhead’s bosses are certain the business will continue to grow in 2025, and have set their sights on delivering a third consecutive year of record growth.
Dobson, though, assures me Barrhead’s growth will not be uncontrolled, stressing her focus is on being the best in the market, not the biggest.
She points towards the progress Barrhead’s homeworking and managed service travel partner (MSTP) division Brilliant Travel has made over the past 11 years since its launch.
Last year, Brilliant achieved 40% year-on-year growth in sales and agent commissions, and 15% year-on-year uptick in revenue this year to date. It has welcomed three new MSTP members this year and eight new homeworkers, bringing its homeworking headcount to 40.
“We want to grow and we’ll continue to do so, but what we want to get is quality people,” insists Brilliant’s president Linda Pyle, who has headed up the operation for the past 10 years.
Pyle said critical to this was making sure candidates were a good fit for Brilliant, and Brilliant a good fit for candidates – never just one or the other.
"We’ll never be the biggest, but we only want to be the best and we want our people to be able to flourish and grow,” Dobson continues. “For us, it’s all about our people – if we have happy people, then we’ll have a really successful business.”
Judging by the relaxed but engaged atmosphere at Barrhead’s conference, they seem ready to soar to even greater heights in 2025.
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Ilaria Grasso Macola
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