Since Travelsphere and Just You became part of G Touring, the two brands have doubled trade sales, with bookings up by 30% this year.

While G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip said the two brands “have done extremely well” since the acquisition in late 2016, he added: “I don’t think we’ve hit our stride yet.”

He said G Touring was set to further “disrupt” the escorted touring market, while capitalising on the “stability” created following last month’s general election, which has finally put Brexit “on a definitive path” following three years of turbulence.

“Acquiring Travelsphere and Just You has really opened our eyes to the opportunities and diversity
within group travel,”

Poon Tip told TTG. “We bought these businesses in a relatively stressed situation six months after the Brexit vote.

“While it’s been exciting for us to get our hands on two iconic legacy brands, we’re now looking forward to running these businesses in a more stable market. We’re super-excited to move into a market that’s a little more vibrant.”

Since the acquisition, G Touring has increased the operators’ on-the-road trade team from one to seven people, with this number set to grow further.

“When we took over Travelsphere and Just You, they did support the trade, but it was half-hearted,” said Poon Tip.

“The brands were so historic that even though they only had one person on the road, they still got significant support.” Alastair Campbell, managing director of Travelsphere and Just You, added the brands’ previous owners had not been trade-focused.

“That’s a fundamental shift Bruce has brought into the business,” explained Campbell.

“We’ve realised the ambition and willingness of the UK trade to support these brands, and we’ve invested very heavily to support that willingness.

“While Travelsphere and Just You are run separately with their own marketing departments, there is a “unified” trade sales team. We’ve transformed that trade infrastructure to be trade-centric – that’s a big part of what we’ve been up to, and we plan to grow that,” said Campbell.

Elsewhere, the Page & Moy relaunch is “back on” for the latter half of 2020.

Thomas Cook effect

Part of this expansion of the sales team was set in motion after it was announced in September that G Adventures, Just You and Travelsphere had won the tender to run group tours for Thomas Cook Tours – just days before Cook went into liquidation.

“It took a hell of a lot of work and we’d really earned it, so to have it pulled out from beneath us so suddenly was very hard,” said Poon Tip.

“Thankfully, it didn’t happen a year later, as we would have been deep into it.”

Despite this setback, the recruitment of new on-the-road staff has continued, with Hays Travel taking over Cook’s former shops and Barrhead Travel planning to add 100 new stores.

“We’ve taken on more people since Cook collapsed because we knew with that change happening, we had to put more resources in,” said Campbell.

“Having such a commitment to bricks and mortar makes it an incredibly exciting space to be in.” Poon Tip confirmed there was “every intention of growing that team”, with 2020 set to be an “explosive year” of growth.

Culture change

The two brands have also transformed the way they operate, while still making the most of their legacies.

“These are 50-year-old companies, but the mood in the office is of a three- year start-up,” said Poon Tip.

“These brands are beloved by customers. You can’t create that kind of legacy now. The amount of firsts the two brands have had in tourism is incredible.”

Campbell added: “When Bruce bought the businesses they were traditional and database-driven; operationally-led rather than market-led.

“But that model was breaking and the world was moving on. We’ve turned them into market-led businesses obsessed with their customers. That’s been the biggest transformation.”

Deciding to do TV advertising for the 2020 peaks season has been another key part of the growth strategy – Travelsphere hadn’t done TV ads for more than a decade and it’s a completely new development for Just You.

“At the end, we do a call-out to travel agents because we support and believe in the trade – I think we’re one of the few to do a call-out like that,” added Campbell.