Botterill left dnata last year after three years leading the integration of Gold Medal Travel, Travel 2 and The Global Travel Group, among others. Prior to that he was chief executive of Stella Travel Services UK and also Global.

He will become chairman of Travcorp – which comprises OTA Holidaygems.co.uk and the B2C Destination2.co.uk – on February 1.

Botterill told TTG he hopes the company will become a platform for the acquisition of further travel businesses.

This will centre on “exciting young businesses” that are perhaps two or three years old and looking for help and support, rather than start-ups.

“I used my time [between roles] to go and visit other travel businesses,” said Botterill.

“I had 18 years at Global, Stella and dnata. You become very focused on your own business, and it’s beneficial to see what others are doing. It was quite refreshing for me to do that and get some perspective.

A lot of Botterill’s experience lies with multi-channel businesses, and he said Travcorp would consider a variety of types of businesses to acquire, including trade-facing ones.

“As a consequence of where I’ve worked previously, my history is in the trade,” he added.