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Travel Counsellors' Steve Byrne: 'We need a government that encourages business'

The Big Interview
Sophie Griffiths
23 June 2026

Travel Counsellors Chief Executive Steve Byrne reflects on the current economic and government instability, what it means for travel and why he remains overwhelmingly optimistic about the future, despite the current uncertainty in the market.

Travel Counsellors' CEO Steve Byrne
Travel Counsellors

Steve Byrne joined Travel Counsellors in 2004 and became CEO in 2016; he has gone on to lead the company's growth into a £1.1 billion travel business

It’s not often you hear an acclaimed Irish poet and Nobel literature prize winner quoted on stage at a business breakfast analysing the state of the market.

But then, Travel Counsellors Chief Executive Steve Byrne is not your average travel leader.

We are at TTG's biannual Agenda 2026 breakfast briefing, held in partnership with PwC, where Byrne – as keynote speaker – is frank about the current challenges facing the travel industry.