Tempest-Mitchell, who started her travel career in 1989 as a modern apprentice, took over day-to-day operations at Barrhead in December 2024 after being promoted from sales and marketing director to a newly created managing director role – the first in the agency’s history – and is now looking to lead the Scottish independent to another year of record-breaking sales.

On 1 February, she joined more than 30 senior leaders from across the business for the agency’s annual “back to the floor” initiative. “It really keeps us grounded, and we get to see things in action," she tells TTG after her stint at Barrhead’s Allerton Road branch in Liverpool, which saw her hand out brochures and help with a wedding offer. “They worked me hard,” she jokes. “We did it on a Saturday – it was really busy, and the sense of camaraderie across the business was excellent. It also makes you think of all the things you can do to support people.”

Peaks performance 

The back to the floor day forms part of Barrhead’s strategy to boost sales during the crucial peaks period, which Tempest-Mitchell says delivered “really good, strong trading”. This came despite a slow start to the year, which she attributes to schools returning from the Christmas holidays later than normal. “We’re really happy with peaks – it was a record-breaking January, and we’ve also had double-digit growth in February so far,” she adds. “We’ve seen the family market bounce back, and all parts of the business have been performing well. All-inclusive is very popular for mainstream clients.

“People are committing, and the number of bookings has grown – there’s always a real focus on why customers should be booking now, and that there are offers to entice them to book. All in all, it’s been very good.” Traditional beach destinations such as the Canaries and Turkey are proving “as popular as ever”, says Tempest-Mitchell, and cruise is also performing well – river and luxury, in particular. “We’ve invested in growing our touring, adventure and US business, and that’s seen significant growth in the past six weeks,” reveals Tempest-Mitchell, who is speaking to TTG in mid-February.

“There is also demand for bucket-list destinations like Tokyo, Nashville and Las Vegas. We’re starting to see an increase for Morocco too.” She adds there are now effectively three peak booking periods during the year, although January and February still account for “by far” the biggest for volume. The second peak comes in late May for last-minute summer bookings, and the third in September when clients start to think about their next holiday following the summer.

Barrhead at 50 

It all bodes well with 2025 poised to be a big year for Barrhead, which will celebrate reaching a half century in business. The agency opened its first store in the Glasgow suburb of Barrhead in 1975, and now has 45 of its own branded branches. This includes 26 shops in Scotland and 18 in England, plus two retail locations and a remote team in Northern Ireland, and two call centres. It also has another 85 businesses and homeworkers operating as managed under its Brilliant Travel banner.

Tempest-Mitchell says the celebrations will include a staff party in Glasgow, which will bring its entire team together for the first time since pre-Covid times. There will also be a separate anniversary event for suppliers this year. “It’s been six years since everybody in the business got together,” she explains. “A lot has happened since then, including our expansion in England. We will bring 500 people together in November – that’s gone down incredibly well with everybody.”

Future-proofing 

It’s not all about celebrating the past, though; the company is conducting research on what the Barrhead brand stands for and what constitutes “the customer of the future”, the results of which will be revealed in the summer. The agency is currently holding an in-house Dragons’ Den-style competition, which encourages staff to come up with innovative ideas to compete for a share of a £50,000 marketing spend.