Franchisees who invested in The Travel Franchise and launched a home-based travel agency under the company’s consumer-facing brand, Not Just Travel, are enjoying a bumper year.
Not Just Travel reports that holiday bookings in 2023 have exceeded those in 2022 every single month with mid-August figures already up 25 per cent year-on-year.
“This month so far we’ve paid more commission to our travel franchisees than ever before.
Sales are simply staggering,” says co-founder Steve Witt.
“August is traditionally a slow month in terms of holiday bookings but many of our consultants have been busier than ever!”
In the first week of August, NJT husband and wife team Colman and Rachael Coyne sold seven cruises. Also, at the beginning of the month, agent Paula Warden booked six cruises in just one day.
Meanwhile, home based travel agent Lloydie Gardener, a former courier, has already taken over 29 bookings worth £127k in total, many package holidays for 2024.
“I’ve had the best August I’ve ever had and it’s the second best month I’ve had this year and there’s still two weeks left to go. I’ve already beaten my monthly target and as I’ve got so many quotes to catch up with I’ve set myself a new one of £200k.”
Big bookings continue to be commonplace while group bookings appear to be a growing trend.
One of NJT’s longest standing and most successful consultants, David Walker made a single £105k booking to Bermuda this month (August) plus an effortless £60,000 flight-only booking for 40 people over the weekend.
And it’s not just established NJT consultants enjoying strong sales. Many new NJT consultants are making several bookings in their first week after just five days of virtual training.
Booming sales is having a negative affect, however, on those wishing to join The Travel Franchise with a lack of training spaces this autumn.
“Many new franchisees want to train before Peaks, the January to March period when travel agents typically sell four times as many holidays as any other time of the year so we have put on extra training but spots are filling fast,” says co-founder Paul Harrison.
“If our agents sell four times as much holidays as they are this August, Peaks 2024 is going to be phenomenal! Our advice is to register for training as soon as possible.”