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Julia Lo Bue-Said: 'We’re refocusing on the future; the key things are our people and strategy'
Advantage chief: ‘We must educate our policy makers better’
‘The pandemic taught me to never assume policy makers know your market, but perhaps that’s in part because we haven’t been educating them,’ Julia Lo Bue-Said tells Advantage conference in Madeira
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Majority of Advantage members gaining new business from direct bookers
Chief Julia Lo Bue-Said hails ‘phenomenal increase’ in new-to-agent business during pandemic, with 80% of Advantage members reporting contact with customers who previously booked direct
There have been calls for industry-wide monetisation of agents’ time
Advantage teams up with Travel Ledger to offer new payment system
The new system will ‘drive extensive benefits’ to Advantage members, the group said
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Vertical Systems to roll out ‘V suite’ to Advantage's AMS members
New system will help drive back-office efficiencies and enhanced customer interaction for Advantage Managed Service leisure members
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Advantage members urged to back case to recover ‘inflated’ card fees
Consortium throws weight behind civil action seeking to get money back for overcharging on card payments owing to interchange fees set by individual providers rather than the market
Cautious optimism as new business outstrips rebooks and amends
Consumers becoming more price savvy again, say agents
Pricing, along with getting hold of suppliers, has become one of the main post-Covid issues for agents this year according to TTG’s latest Travel Agent Tracker survey
David McDonald's new operator brand, Chillimix, has recruited Nicky Yates to grow its agent sales
LGBT+ operator Chillimix to recruit trade team
’We wanted to make sure we had feet on the ground as we grow,’ said Chillimix boss David McDonald
Jayne Lambert joins Advantage from G Adventures
G Adventures RSM Jayne Lambert joins Advantage
In her new role, Lambert will look to extend the consortium’s reach in the south
Advantage: Agents can thrive as world begins to reopen
‘It takes longer than six weeks to rebuild an industry’
‘It takes much more than a busy Easter weekend to rebuild businesses’
LGBT+ specialist agents will be hosted for up to three nights in a New York hotel and given up to $500 towards their return flight
LGBT+ specialists offered hosted trip to Proud Experiences in NYC
The event, which is taking place in Brooklyn from 27-29 June, brings together leaders from the travel and lifestyle sectors to develop business strategies and expand LGBT+ understanding
Abta
Abta encourages members to respond to survey
The survey aims to assess the latest employment situation and will help to help track the industry’s recovery
Madeira is stressing that it remains open to all tourists despite the "state of contingency" on the island
Advantage reveals speaker line-up for Madeira conference
Simon Calder will deliver the keynote speech at the consortium’s first in-person overseas conference since the onset of the pandemic 
Advantage: Agents can thrive as world begins to reopen
Advantage hails 'tough decisions' as annual losses shrink
Consortium posts net loss of £327k for the 2020/21 financial year, in contrast to a pre-tax deficit of £1.6m for 2019/20
The UK is bracing for a cost-of-living crisis, including rising energy bills (Credit: iStock)
Boiling point: Rising cost of living adds fuel to fire
Despite travel making inroads to recovery, factors – including increasing bills, record inflation and the war in Ukraine – may yet dampen UK consumers’ appetite for travel
Tenerife in the Canary Islands is a winter sun favourite (Credit: iStock)
Easter holiday departures near pre-pandemic levels, Advantage reports
Top-selling destinations include Tenerife, Costa Blanca, Lanzarote, Antalya and Costa Del Sol
Peat joins from Celebrity Cruises, and has previously held roles with Viking, Thomas Cook and Princess
Celebrity's Jonny Peat to join Advantage Travel Partnership
Peat to take up commercial manager – cruise role with the consortium next month
Mark Sutton is now commercial director of Protected Trust Services
Bonding costs 'becoming unaffordable', claims Protected Trust Services
Trust account specialist reports recent membership "surge” fuelled by Atol renewals and a rise in the cost of bonding
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Pitch Royal Caribbean and Levi Roots to earn £200k share
Agents can earn a share of £200,000 and pitch their business ideas to the Dragons’ Den success story
Gary Lewis: ‘We’re fighting to get as many members through this crisis as possible’
New talent focus for Travel Network Group training revamp
Consortium launches new training programme for members, covering recruitment and development of new and existing talent, as well as marketing and wellbeing
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MSC Cruises reshuffles sales team following Stafford departure
Alyshia Jay Bartlett to take over from Scenic Group-bound Andrea Stafford, with move sparking three other internal promotions at MSC
Andrea Stafford has been appointed Scenic Group director of trade sales
MSC's Andrea Stafford joins Scenic Group as trade sales lead
Group makes five new appointments to UK trade sales team, led by Stafford’s arrival from MSC Cruises
Ponders Travel has urged customers to donate 'basics for Ukrainian refugees on the Ukraine-Poland border'
Not Just Travel to pay staff for homing Ukrainian refugees
Homeworking company is also granting its 40 employees paid leave to help with voluntary work, either locally or nationally
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‘Help your local agency’, consumers urged as restrictions lift
Travel the Globe urges consumers to use their local agency to lift businesses following the pandemic
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'Most people' have foreign holidays booked in next 12 months - Abta
New findings from the association show 57% of Brits have booked to go abroad in the next 12 months, up from 44% in October 2021