Travel Counsellors, an independent travel company, has announced the launch of a new programme tailored to open new career paths for industry professionals.

In order to help industry professionals such as travel suppliers and hotel staff with their customer service and people skills, the ‘Travel Trade’ initiative offers a bespoke training course and ongoing support programme. It aims to equip them with tools and skills to run their own travel franchises as part of the company.

The launch of the programme in September is a response to an increase in enquiries from these types of travel professionals, with over 10% of enquiries over the past 12 months coming from airlines, hotels and other non-selling travel roles.

“There is nothing currently in the industry that provides a course like this”

Kirsten Hughes, CCO and MD at Travel Counsellors, commented: “We are certainly seeing a distinct increase in demand from these professionals and with recent closure announcements, it is becoming more important to offer these individuals the opportunity to stay in an industry they love and open up new career paths to them.

“There is nothing currently in the industry that provides a course like this, and this will be completely tailored to their training needs and the support they need in running their own successful travel business from home.”

The Travel Trade course provides an initial full week induction at the Travel Counsellors’ HQ in Manchester, including training on the company’s in-house booking technology platform called Phenix, which enables business owners to create bespoke travel packages and take control of the margin they make.

After the induction, there will be a number of dedicated follow-up training courses over the next 20 weeks with ongoing business development support, alongside a digital training programme via the company’s own Learning Management System and in-house TCTV broadcast, as well as regular conferences and events.

Travel Counsellors currently has over 1,800 travel professionals across seven countries, supported by more than 380 staff across its UK headquarters and 6 overseas offices (Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, and Dubai).