With record-breaking holiday sales, bookings up 25%, booking values up over £600 and cruise sales nearly tripling, Bournemouth-based Not Just Travel has boomed over August.
The travel company has recruited 20 people in just the past few months, having already doubled in size in the previous year.
The company said that almost half of its bookings (46%) have been for last-minute holidays. With 31% for winter 23/24, and 81% of bookings for adults only. Cruise sales are 2.5 times greater than this time last year.
This has led to Not Just Travel beating its own sales forecasts by over 30%.
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Steve Witt, co-founder of Not Just Travel and its recruitment arm, The Travel Franchise said: “We like to challenge ourselves and so always give ourselves substantial sales targets to reach for, but the last three months we have blasted these out of the water by over 30%. The resurgence in travel shows no signs of abating. Consumer mood is good and this translates into significant bookings. Many of our members are taking home £10-30k in income each month.”
This summer, the company announced it is investing another £1m in recruitment, as the company expands across all areas - in order to keep up with its fast-expanding team of consultants.
The company is also restructuring its team to “sharpen its focus” on customer experience. The investment is in addition to the £2.4m the company has already invested in expanding its team since the beginning of 2022.
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In addition, the franchisee recruitment side of the business is seeing record sales this year. In the first five months it has recruited more new travel consultants than the whole of 2022 - with at least one new travel consultant joining most working days.
In May, The Travel Franchise - the recruitment arm of Not Just Travel - welcomed six new members in a single day - highlighting the level of interest in the business.
'Travel is a priority and demand is stronger than people could have hoped early in the year'
Mr Witt continued: “I can’t think of a single franchisor in the world who is experiencing recruitment rates such as ours. More people than ever want to become homeworking travel consultants as they see the uncapped financial regards, lifestyle benefits and work-life balances that can be achieved with such a business.“
The travel company said that this boom in employment and sales is in line with national trends of people travelling more confidently. As reported in Travel Weekly, the June 海角视频 consumer sentiment survey by PwC found confidence had improved from a low of minus 44 points last September to minus 13, in line with the long-term average since 2008. It found that holidays remained one of the strongest consumer categories.
Ellen Scott, partner at PwC consulting business strategy said: "Travel is a priority and demand is stronger than people could have hoped early in the year. The premium end of the market is going strongly and travel demand is particularly strong among those aged 55 and over – the group most positive about household finances.”
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