The initiative will give new travel agency owners the opportunity to ‘buddy up’ with more established Global agents for advice and encouragement on running a success travel business.

Commercial director Cherie Richards unveiled the programme at the consortium’s conference at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida.

“The one thing we know about Global agents is that they all see themselves as part of a family. Very often we see this sort of collaboration when our members come together – they are always keen to help each other out and share best practice,” she said.

The creation of Global Buddies was about putting that approach “on a more formal footing”, Richards explained.

Speaking to TTG, Richards said she had seen the benefits of such a scheme from the interactions between members on Global’s VIP trips and wanted to "harness the power of the Global Famalam [agent family]."

“Our members love sharing knowledge. There are in the same business but they do like to help each other,” she said.

“We want nobody to feel alone – especially those working from home and want to encourage them to get out, go and network, go to breakfast meetings and they can learn so much from hearing from someone who has been there and done it.”

Kicking off the programme, members of Global’s executive team will each be assigned their own new member to mentor during their first year.

Global said it was also looking to bring in senior industry figures for group mentoring sessions, due to take place at venues across the country.

Established Global members who would like to offer their services as a mentor can register their interest by emailing commercial@globaltravelgroup.com

“Sometimes, just having someone to bounce ideas off or chat through issues with can make a world of difference,” Richards added.