The homeworking firm hosted the special Inspire virtual event from its in-house TCTV studio last Friday (12 March), which attracted more than 1,800 homeworkers and staff from around the world.
Travel Counsellors’ global sales director Jim Eastwood told TTG the event was designed to “bring the global Travel Counsellors community together” and to celebrate the “immense resilience” homeworkers have shown during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eastwood said sales have been picking up in recent weeks following the UK government’s announcement of a road map out of the current pandemic restrictions.
He added that sales had also been boosted in the days following the Inspire event.
“It’s right to have that cautious optimism, even though there are likely to be bumps in the road,” said Eastwood. “We have had excellent sales and the big winner has been UK leisure.”
He revealed that Travel Counsellors had seen four trends in bookings this year including strong demand for UK domestic holidays up to the end of June.
“In the past 10 weeks we have sold more UK staycations than we would have done in two normal years combined,” he added.
Eastwood said that the Med, particularly Greece and Spain, and the US were popular for the summer months between July and September, while demand for the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Dubai was strong between September and February 2022. While forward bookings for 2022 showed “a lot of everything” with cruise also “really booming”.
Business travel remains 75-80% down on pre-Covid levels for Travel Counsellors, although this is still significantly higher than the overall corporate market.
“The appetite is there and the necessity for trusted travel advice and somebody to look after you from door-to-door has never been greater,” said Eastwood.
The online Inspire event included a range of speakers and guests, including TV presenter Vernon Kay, as well as entrepreneur Vikas Shah, sleep specialist Dr Nerina Ramlakhan and “mindset mentor” Lorna Dunning. There was also a Q&A with the company’s directors.
“We wanted to bring it all together and support people’s mindset for the future,” explained Eastwood.
Travel Counsellors is planning another event in late April or early May for its homeworkers which will be “more business-focused”.
