Your Stories: The Travel Village’s Phil Nuttall and Carole Anne Bolton look back at 45 years in travel

The cousins catch up with Lucy Huxley about ‘dedicating their lives’ to the travel industry

Q. Carole Anne, you started with the agency 45 years ago – how did that come about?
Carole Anne: It was founded in 1959, when Eric Capey Bourne established Bourne Travel in Blackpool, selling package holidays on Highfield Road – where the shop remains today. The Travel Village is now owned by Eric’s grandson, Phil Nuttall, and I’m in the finance department. My uncle and auntie were working with Eric. After I left school, I began working in travel, and my aim was always to work with Mr Bourne. One Sunday, he came to my house and said: “When do you want to start?”

Within a week, I was at Bourne Travel. Eric was amazing, I learnt such a lot. It was one shop and we had three desks alongside his. Eventually we moved next door into what had been the post office, and went into the kitchen downstairs, which was kitted out as an office. We sold bucket-and-spade holidays out of Blackpool airport to Benidorm, with the likes of Intasun, Castle, Exchange and Horizon. Very few people did cruising. The ones that did were mainly older clients with P&O Cruises.

We sold bucket-and-spade holidays out of Blackpool airport to Benidorm, with the likes of Intasun, Castle, Exchange and Horizon

Q. How did chief executive Phil start 40 years ago?
Carole Anne: He came on Saturdays – his granddad got him to stamp brochures. He looked up to his granddad and thought: “I want to be like you.”

Phil: You’re reading the brochures as you’re stamping them, and it grips you – the destinations and geography were fantastic. We did have fun: we could write out airline tickets and fly wherever we wanted and come back on Monday morning. It’s one of those things – travel is in your blood. I grew up with it: you eat, sleep and breathe it. My parents [Peter and Carol] were heavily involved in the business and you never switch off. You dedicate your life to this industry, in many ways.

Q: What were the main challenges?
Phil: I was on a skiing holiday with school in 1982, a year before I joined the business, and remember the Falklands war breaking out and phoning home to check if everything was OK. That was my first insight into world events. The Gulf war came along in 1990, then Sars in 2002, the first pandemic of the century, then the ash cloud in 2010 and coronavirus in 2020. Those events in the past prepared me [for the Covid-19 pandemic]. I’d been through that sort of thing before: we know what we’re going do and we’ve been well prepared.

My parents [Peter and Carol] were heavily involved in the business and you never switch off. You dedicate your life to this industry, in many ways

Q: After Phil took over, how did you become the UK’s first cruise-only specialist?
Carole Anne: I was concerned because I was going out of my comfort zone. It was scary but I knew Philip would be right because he had his mum and dad’s support.

Phil: I realised [in 2002] that cruise was going to be big. When I look back over the past 20 years, I still don’t feel the business has reached anywhere near its potential with our Southampton Cruise Centre, Cruise Village and River Cruising brands. We are also looking at developing more touring.

Q. How have holidaymakers changed?
Carole Anne: Customers want a lot more out of you. They are quite demanding, wanting you to help with things like check-in and Covid restrictions. We have customers all over the country and worldwide, including Australia, South Africa, the US and Canada.

Phil: Customers seek security from travel agents and are expecting it more than before the pandemic. We have an obligation to guide them.

We have customers all over the country and worldwide, including Australia, South Africa, the US and Canada

Q: What technology have you seen over the years?
Phil: There was viewdata, then Thomson invested in TOP (Thomson Open-line Programme) and trained 3,000 agents in about three months. It was a huge investment by them in the early 80s. [With the internet] we’ve been through the 90s and the noughties talking about the death of travel agents…then the pandemic comes along and agents are the best thing since sliced bread. Those who use tech well will stay relevant. We must make sure that channels of communication are open between sales people in our business and our tour operator partners. I’m working very hard at the moment, behind the scenes, for travel agents. The future is about working together.

We must make sure that channels of communication are open between sales people in our business and our tour operator partners

What have been your career highlights?

Phil: I received outstanding contribution awards from Clia in 2017 and the Agent Achievement Awards in 2022. Being recognised is amazing – I’m very grateful. My proudest moments were starting with granddad, and when my daughter [Jessica] joined the industry. She started with a work placement at P&O Cruises – that relationship goes back to the early 1960s.

Carole Anne:Celebrating our 60th anniversary at the Blackpool Tower in 2019. Also, working with Philip is not like coming to work at all.

My proudest moments were starting with granddad, and when my daughter [Jessica] joined the industry

Phil: We’re back at the Tower Ballroom to host a ‘winter wonderland’ industry event in December 2024. Paula [Nuttall, Phil’s wife] set up the homeworking division, Holiday Village, in 2018 and that’s growing fast. She has 80 homeworkers now. During Covid, we didn’t lose anybody. We appointed John Warr as group managing director in 2021 and he has galvanised things. There is a corporate structure to the business, and this is the year to put the fun back in – for the business to grow and to look for opportunities to disrupt things.