The airline and operator named the first successful beneficiaries of its Scale Up Your Street campaign on Wednesday (11 June), with pitches from a further four agencies and homeworkers set to follow in the coming days.
Announced at last year’s Jet2holidays conference in Paphos, Jet2 invited pitches from existing high street agencies plus those seeking to make the jump into retail.
Almost 120 entries were eventually whittled down to 12, up from an initially proposed 10, with the first eight making their pitches to an expert panel at Jet2’s Holiday House HQ in Leeds on Wednesday.
Jet2 said that all eight successful agencies, some of which can’t yet be named for commercial reasons, "received significant funding", with many taking away the maximum available pledge of £10,000.
Entrants had to submit a written pitch outlining their vision for a new retail shop, including their target market, branding ideas and business plan.
Besides a financial contributions, winners will also receive tailored training and support to help them get their new shops up and running, plus additional marketing and branding support, as well as access to insights and industry mentorship.
The judging panel comprised Alan Cross, Jet2holidays’ director of travel agent relationships; Lloyd Cross, Jet2holidays general manager trade sales; Nicola Park, owner and director of Seaside Travel; and Don Bircham, franchise owner of Hays Travel Mold.
Each panellist had a £2,500 pot for each pitch, provided by Jet2holidays, with each finalist tasked with persuading to contribute towards their new business venture.
Alan Cross said: “The passion and commitment we witnessed from agency partners and homeworkers proves the high street will be a thriving place thanks to talented and brilliant people who want to open retail stores, providing innovative and welcoming places for people to book their holidays.
"All of the judges were blown away by the sheer quality of the pitches and we are incredibly excited about watching our partners progress and succeed. Scale Up Your Street is all about helping independent travel agency partners grow and and we are very proud of what everyone has achieved."
