Travel Counsellors has launched a programme designed to entice industry outsiders into running their own travel franchises.
The new ‘Travel Trade’ programme is aimed at professionals in customer facing roles, but without previous travel selling experience.
It allows people, such as travel suppliers and hotel staff with exceptional customer service and people skills, to embark on a bespoke training course and ongoing support programme.
According to the group, there has been a recent rise in enquiries from these types of experienced travel professionals, with over 10% of enquiries over the past 12 months coming from airline, hotel industry and other ‘non-selling’ travel roles.
"We are certainly seeing a distinct increase in demand from these professionals and with recent closure announcements it is becoming more important to offer these individuals the opportunity to stay in an industry they love and open up new career paths to them," said Travel Counsellors CCO and MD Kirsten Hughes.
"There is nothing currently in the industry that provides a course like this, and this will be completely tailored to their training needs and the support they need in running their own successful travel business from home."
The programme will include an initial full-week induction at the Travel Counsellors’ HQ in Manchester, including training on the company’s own in-house booking technology Phenix.
This will be followed by 20 weeks of follow-up training courses and ongoing business development support, alongside a digital training programme via the company’s Learning Management System and in-house TCTV broadcast, as well as regular conferences and events.
The first Travel Trade programme will launch in September.
