Harvey World Travel ties up with Virgin Holidays

Saturday, 04 May, 2006 0

Australian-owned Harvey World Travel is set to announce a tie-up with Virgin Holidays to create a chain of 300 dual-branded shops in the UK.

The 24 branches currently in the retailer’s chain will be rebranded ‘Harvey World Travel, the travel professionals for Virgin Holidays’ and another 80 shops are due to be added to the portfolio within the next two weeks.

The two companies will keep expanding until they have 300 shops under the Harvey World/Virgin Holidays name.

The deal is the brainchild of Harvey World managing director John Donnelly, who created the Holiday Hypermarket concept in 1996, but he was unavailable for comment.

Virgin Holidays will be promoted heavily, although not exclusively, through the chain. The deal has been backed by funds from owner S8, which has been convinced by Donnelly that people buying long-haul holidays still want face-to-face contact with people on the high street.

Virgin believes its brand will be a big pull for holidaymakers and claims it will be able to offer a different style of retailing than is currently available on the high street.

Each branch will have a destination DVD library, plasma screens and a range of Virgin Holidays’ brochures. Stores will also be equipped with webcam facilities to link up customers with Harvey World representatives in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to offer advice to customers.

The timing of the announcement, just ahead of the Triton independent agents’ conference in Tenerife, is no coincidence.

Harvey World is hoping to recruit disillusioned agents, particularly after news that Thomson is to sever ties with independent retailers.

A source at Harvey World said: “Triton is trying to pull so many different factions together, but it doesn’t work.

“Triton doesn’t mean anything to anyone as a brand, whereas Virgin will have massive appeal. It’s an opportunity for independent agents, but there will be a limited time when they can get on board.”

Report by Jeremy Skidmore (www.jeremyskidmore.com)