InteleTravel boss ‘celebrates’ UK agents after homeworkers outperform US counterparts
Ilaria Grasso MacolaInteleTravel president James Ferrara has praised UK and Irish homeworkers for achieving record sales while also outperforming their US counterparts by 26 percentage points in the past year.
Addressing 500 delegates at the InteleTravel Quest conference in Sorrento on Friday (11 October), Ferrara revealed the UK and Ireland had outperformed the agency’s US market, achieving £95 million in the eight months to the end of August.
This represents a 62% surge year-on-year as sales to the end of August surpassed the total achieved in 2023 by £10 million and are poised to reach £143 million by the year’s end – up 70% on 2023.
Ferrara said: “First and foremost these results are a celebration of you. The part myself, Tricia and all the executives and employees at InteleTravel play here is to set you up firmly in your own driver’s seat toward your own future fulfilment and success.”
The homeworking giant, which has a network of 120,000 homeworkers worldwide and some 20,000 in the UK and Ireland, also reported a 12% surge in average booking value to £1,495 as well as a surge in both land and cruise bookings.
InteleTravel has doubled its land-based holidays, which now account for 53% of all UK and Irish bookings.
Meanwhile, cruise sales jumped 150% year-on-year. Cruise now makes up 17% of sales in the UK and Ireland after a deliberate strategy to grow turnover in this market.
Ferrara wants to see cruise grow further and reach US booking levels, where cruise represents 40% of all reservations.
“In the UK cruise bookings are one out of 10 vacations,” Ferrara continued. “We’ve already doubled that percentage and we’re going to take it even further as in the US, cruise represents 40% of our bookings.
“This is a contribution that we’re making in the UK and we’re going to continue to push that number.”
Virgin Voyages sales manager Jack Atherton called Intele homeworkers "trusted" agents, adding: “InteleTravel has shown consistent growth not only in their sales delivery, but in the breadth of individuals within their membership who have successfully made Virgin Voyages bookings in the past year."
Earlier this year, InteleTravel acquired a majority stake in trade-only tailor-made specialist Major Travel. The homeworking firm argued its acquisition would help every UK and Irish travel agent to compete more effectively against direct-sell operators.
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