Parent dnata Travel Group announced plans in July to merge the two operations under the Gold Medal brand, while retaining sub-brands Pure Luxury, Cruise Plus, and Incredible Journeys.

Teams will be centralised in dnata’s Leyland office, with a number of homeworking roles created in Glasgow – where Travel 2’s HQ is set to be closed.

Late last week, a series of briefings were held with staff across both brands upon completion of a lengthy consultation process, with Gold Medal managing director Lisa McAuley stressing that despite the upheaval, Gold Medal would leverage the two brands’ 80 years of combined travel expertise to deliver a "best-in-class" B2B offering.

McAuley confirmed to TTG on Wednesday (7 October) that a third of agents aligned with Travel 2 had already been transitioned to Gold Medal.

“We’re delighted with the number of agents who have already registered," she said. It shows great support, and a real desire among the agent community to be a part of Gold Medal.

"Championing travel agents is at the heart of our strategy so it’s great to see that message is resonating with them.

"We’re looking forward to welcoming more registrations from agents in the days ahead and working with them all as travel recovers.”

She added that while dnata’s focus had been on managing the effect of the Covid crisis on trade bookings, teams at dnata had been working hard to ensure continuity during the merger process, and once it is complete.

Earlier this week, dnata revealed "transition" logos for both Gold Medal and Travel 2, while a new agent sales team function has been created around a team of eight field-based trade partnership managers.