Barrhead Travel boss calls for more sector support

Despite 2023 being a record-breaking year and 2024 looking on course to match, the boss of one of the UK’s largest travel agencies has warned that the sector continues to need support in some areas.

Jacqueline Dobson, president of Barrhead Travel, told Insider that the travel industry has been dealt several major blows recently.

One of these came as the UK Government announced it was defunding travel and tourism courses. In Scotland, as well as delays to funding this year, courses for travel could be non-existent in colleges.

Westminster did pledge funding to support up to 20,000 apprentices for small businesses, while also allowing larger businesses to now transfer half of unused levy funds to different employers.

However, Dobson doesn’t believe the heart of the issue has been addressed – and certainly not across the UK. Scotland, for example, is bound to different levy rules, despite paying into the same pot as English counterparts.

Most recently, the Scottish Government has made the decision to withdraw the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) – which is drawn directly from the levy.

An independent report that was commissioned and published earlier this year by the Scottish Government, stating that the funding should be increased and that there should be better ways of distributing it to levy-paying businesses.

“But the government’s actions are at odds with its report,” Dobson said. “As well as penalising Scottish businesses – which will continue to pay into the UK levy pot without being able to access the FWDF that is funded through the levy percentage that is filtered back to the Scottish Government – it will have a knock-on impact on colleges and educational institutions across the country.”

She continued: “Apprenticeships have been a real challenge, it feels like there’s a lack of support and now a genuine concern around courses with City & Guilds withdrawing the qualification this year.

“We’re trying to expand, and I firmly believe it’s important to have a mixture of people – including young and old, apprentices and those who don’t come from a travel background.”

Barrhead Travel runs a four-year training course to help new recruits to the company and the industry, but Dobson is disappointed about the removal of FWDF funding.

She also took aim at the government’s retail revitalisation policy, noting that one in six units are empty on Scotland’s high streets.

“We’re continuing to engage with the government to make sure they’re working with us and listening to the business community.

“We do feel somewhat disadvantaged compared to England, but we’ll continue to invest in our current stores.”

Barrhead Travel struggled along with the rest of the sector during the pandemic, but now the recover is in full swing, with 2023 figures 26% ahead of 2019, and this year is on track to be beat that again.

“People are prioritising holidays over other discretionary spending,” said Dobson, referring to a recent TTG and PwC report which showed travel spend features within the top five spending priorities of all age groups, while a Barclays consumer update revealed that year-on-year spend with travel agents grew by 7.1% in March and 10% in February.

People still want value-for-money though, with more than one in four bookings with Barrhead being for all-inclusive board basis, and similarly, cruise packages are continuing to rise in popularity.

Elsewhere, the company’s touring and adventure division finished up by more than 80% last year.

Dobson said that Barrhead is looking to expand its store estate, while using artificial intelligence to help enhance efficiencies, although she “firmly believes” that people still want to talk to a specialist.

As for post-pandemic connectivity, Scottish airports are still not back to where they once were, especially to and from destinations in Asia and the Middle East – with demand currently outstripping supply to places like Dubai.

On this, and problems with a lack of airport staff in key areas, Dobson said the industry is working with operators and they have “definitely learned lessons from last year”.

She added: “Efficiencies have been made in terms of travelling through Scottish airports, I think the Easter rush was handled well and we’ve got a much smoother summer ahead.”

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