What does your music tour and production niche entail?

There’s so much more to it than booking flights for artists. I look at the full run of shows planned for a tour, and work out how to get artists and crew from obscure destination A to obscure destination B in the most practical way, and that’s not always the cheapest or the quickest way. I have to factor in show times, sound checks, hotel check-ins and downtime. The goal is to get people where they need to be, on time, rested and focused, without them having to think about the logistics in between.

Is it true, do rock stars trash hotel rooms?

Ha ha, I have heard about that happening but mine are all pretty well behaved. The majority just want to do their show and return home to their families. I have had artists who’ve missed their wake-up call and then their flight home, because they’ve gone back to a different hotel room. But a lot of them are just normal people doing a ‘normal’ job. And they travel so much, it’s not fun for them. That’s what you have to understand, that’s the reason they’re being funny about having a particular seat on an airplane or demanding a particular brand of Kombucha in their rider. 

How did you end up doing this area of travel?

I was cabin crew for almost 10 years, first with British Airways, then Virgin Atlantic. When I wanted to be more grounded, I trained to be a travel agent. Initially, I did leisure with Flight Centre, then I moved to Altour, a TMC, where I started in corporate but soon moved on to music and arena tours as well as TV production in ITV. 

When I was made redundant in the pandemic, I moved into a production role, which gave me direct TV experience. My favourite was Loose Women. I was dealing with all the presenters, making sure they got to the studio on time. I really enjoyed working with Kaye Adams, Sunetra Sarker and Nadia Sawalha in particular, they were warm, professional and always good fun. Some of my nicest memories are sitting in their dressing rooms, chatting before the show. 

After the pandemic, the ITV contract moved to a different agency, and I worked as a senior production travel consultant, on shows such as I’m a Celebrity, Dancing on Ice, Love Island, and Countdown. The agency’s travel team was permanently based at ITV, working within the studios alongside production. We weren’t just an external supplier – we were integrated into the ITV framework and very much part of the production DNA.

In 2023, I moved back into music touring, working with some big-name DJs.

Why does this line of work suit you best?

I quickly realised my strengths lay more on the business-to-business side of travel. I was well travelled from my 10 years as cabin crew – I’d been almost everywhere – but usually for short periods at a time. Flying was my job, and I had a broad understanding of destinations, but leisure often calls for deeper, experience-led knowledge. 

What suited me more was project-based work, where logistics, pace and precision matter. Corporate travel can be repetitive, but music and production are different – they’re less transactional and much more integrated with the client’s world.

I’m naturally efficient and comfortable working at speed. My whole life is spreadsheets and detailed tracking; I like to visualise moving parts and keep tight control of them.

© Kristian James

What brought you to Travel Counsellors?  

When you’re working on a show or a tour, it becomes your life for as long as it runs. In television especially, it was rarely just one production at a time – it could be three, four or more running simultaneously, each with its own pressures and deadlines.

On the touring side, the European summer is relentless – Ibiza one day, Eastern Europe the next, then back again. I’m not going to dress it up: it’s hard work. The hours are long, the pressure is constant and your phone rarely stops. That’s the nature of the industry.

The experience is shaped largely by the people you work with. Touring and production are incredibly collaborative environments, and when there’s mutual respect, it’s hugely rewarding. That alignment makes the intensity worthwhile.

Moving to Travel Counsellors gave me the opportunity to build my business in a more intentional way. The strength of the network is invaluable, but being independent means I can be selective and focus on partnerships that are productive and long-term. I’d rather build a smaller portfolio of strong, trusted relationships than operate at volume.

After my first year, I’m now focused on establishing myself clearly within my niche and stepping forward in my own right, rather than simply sitting behind the Travel Counsellors branding.

How do you manage the stress?

At Travel Counsellors, there’s a decent-sized community of people doing music and touring, and we support each other and work on the same clients together.  

You have to accept the summer is a write-off and you won’t have much of a life, but what I’m aiming for is working hard all summer and then going away over the winter, as my business grows.  

Also, I accept that, no matter how much prep I do, it’s going to change last minute. Everyone seems to wake up at the same time in the music industry, Friday afternoon about 3pm. They want to change everything about the coming weekend, they want to go here instead, they don’t like the hotel, all of that.  

What’s the biggest crisis you’ve dealt with?


I was working on a well-known TV production, when the flight back to the UK for the celebrities and crew got cancelled. They were stuck in Johannesburg Airport, sitting on their suitcases in the check-in area at 11pm. Then the paparazzi arrived, which made a bad situation worse. That was a long night. Everyone was stressed. The airport staff weren’t really giving a lot, so we had to take over, get everyone back to their accommodation and try and get people home. Every time a seat became available on a flight, I just grabbed it.  

Tell us about the most rewarding aspect


Building relationships with tour managers. Like any industry, you get some stinkers, but many of them genuinely appreciate everything you do. Also, it’s nice to get to know musicians before they cross the line. They are more humble before they hit the big time. 

Are there any perks?  

If I was 10 years younger, I probably would take advantage of the guest lists and the social side of the job. But I’ve already had that chapter. I spent a decade flying long-haul, and my twenties and thirties were full of festivals and parties.

Now, in my mid-40s, my approach is different. I still enjoy the occasional gig or set visit, but I’m more interested in the work itself than the after-parties. There’s something satisfying about being behind the scenes and making it all happen.

Can you name any of your current clients?  

We work with some very well-known names, but out of respect for our clients, I don’t tend to name drop publicly without their permission. Discretion is important in this space, and it’s a competitive industry, so you have to be mindful of that.

Do you ever get star-struck?

I had celebrities on flights all the time, particularly on transatlantic routes, and one of the biggest lessons I learned early on was to treat everyone the same. I don’t get caught up in who someone is or ask about their work unless they choose to talk about it. They’re just people doing their job, like the rest of us.

In my experience, that approach works well. The people you might be apprehensive about meeting because of their reputation (Gordon Ramsey and Simon Cowell both come to mind) often turn out to be the most straightforward, and vice versa. On-screen and off-screen can be very different things, but professionalism and mutual respect are what make it work.

Any tips for agents interested in this niche?


Ninety-nine per cent of this business is through personal recommendations – your business is built on reputation. Also, it’s a gig economy; people move around, they work on one tour, then go to another. If a tour manager can take you with them, that’s fantastic. Understand that while this is not leisure, it’s not corporate either. It’s entertainment and you’re a lot more hands on. You work as an extension of the team and you need to be adaptable and available.  

What’s the best skill an agent can have to excel in this niche?

You have to be really well organised and present for your clients. It’s about reacting and acting quickly, because all this is happening in real time. All it takes is one thing to go wrong and the artist misses a show. You don’t want to be the reason an artist loses their fee because they didn’t make their show – that’s a huge responsibility.