New NI Agents Come Under Global Umbrella

It’s been a busy few months recently for the Global Travel Group in Northern Ireland

The group, which has around 350 members in the whole of the UK, recently welcomed a number of new members from different parts of the Province.

New members include Mango Travels, which opened a retail shop Strabane town centre in November. Strabane has been without a travel agency for many years and the new agency is run by Sanjeev and Daljeet Guram, well known businesspeople in the town.

Fivemiletown has also its first retail shop, run by Maureen Quirk – Global Travel – which operates in the Main Street opposite the well-known Valley Hotel; while JF Travel, run by Johnny Fielding, has a retail shop in Coleraine. Another new Global member is Travel Bug, a home-based company based in Magherafelt. Also new to Global, and to travel, with an office in Newtownards centre is L’Amour Travel.

Darren Bond, Global’s Head of Sales and Business Development, (pictured), is responsible for the Northern Ireland Market Global Travel Group, and is a regular visitor to the Province. He will be back again shortly to connect with the new members and the organisation’s other Northern Ireland members under the Global umbrella.

He told Northern Ireland Travel News: “It is unusual for us to get a number of new members in a place like Northern Ireland within a short time.

“But we have had a lot of Global members in the Province over the years, well-known local independents such as Getaway Travel in Comber, Willis Travel in Banbridge, Dunlop Travel in Newcastle and Norma Hill Travel in Belfast, while Newry’s Travellers Secrets have been with Global for 20 years or more.”

Global’s members are independent travel agents who are able to take advantage of the organisation’s economy of scale to offer excellent deals and packages to their customers, take advantage of white branded marketing and social media resources, IT and back-office functions, training and networking and commercial support.

Agents retain their independence so they are free to take advantage of as much or as little of what Global offers. Members also benefit from Global’s Group ATOL licence. They work with agents who are home-based, office-based and retail-based.

“We are always looking to welcome new members whether in Northern Ireland or in other parts of the UK. Historically there haven’t been many Northern Ireland members so the fact that there are several new members and new retail travel businesses and new openings is a sign of growth and good news for the industry,” said Darren.

Global Travel Group is a consortium based in Chester, but has members throughout the whole of the UK. It is part of dnata, an Emirati Dubai-based airport services provider which provides aircraft ground handling, cargo, travel and flight catering services across five continents.

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