Co-op Travel Consortium celebrates 10th anniversary

Co-op Travel Consortium, part of the Midcounties Co-operative, has celebrated 10 years since signing its first travel agency member, Blue Bay Travel.

The consortium was established in May 2012 and, since Blue Bay Travel joined, membership has grown to 130 agencies which make up the wider Midcounties Co-operative group with the firm’s 74 high street agencies, and more than 160 homeworkers under its Personal Travel Advisors (PTAs) brand.

Alison Holmes, head of Co-op Travel Consortium, said: “I’m so proud of how the consortium has evolved over the last 10 years and I am grateful to the talented agency-owners who have chosen to partner with the Midcounties Co-operative.

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“It’s wonderful to have retained our very first member, Blue Bay Travel, for the entire decade. To have watched Blue Bay Travel and many of our other original partners flourish and expand with the support of the consortium is really rewarding.”

Alistair Rowland, chief executive of Blue Bay Travel, said: “The consortium offers agents operating independently the option of joining the managed service model to increase profits, reduce costs and benefit from the added protection that the backing of a powerful, stable, and financially secure parent provides.

“The accredited body model, supported by the CAA has also been very successful and allowed great businesses, small and large, to grow and flourish under the consortium.”