The Travel Franchise wins prestigious industry award

The franchisor's dedication led to a four-fold increase in cruise sales from pre-pandemic level

Travel giant The Travel Franchise has been named Best Homeworking Travel Agency in the Cruise Awards by Cruise Adviser.

The judges, members of the CLIA (the world’s largest cruise trade engagement committee) were impressed with the brand’s significant investment in people, technology and events during the pandemic. The Travel Franchise was also praised for its continuous innovation and the new initiatives it launched over the past year which increased the number of repeat customers from 20 per cent to 60 per cent.

Samuel Ballard, managing director of Cruise Adviser and the awards said: “Judges told us they were highly impressed by the number of key initiatives The Travel Franchise implemented to grow cruise sales. These include its travel podcast, its in-person events and the way it utilised PR channels to capitalise on the demand for seacations, converting them into long-term repeat cruise bookers.”

The inaugural Cruise Awards evening began with an evening drinks reception on the Elizabethan, a Mississippi-style paddle steamer sailing the Thames, before arriving at the historic Cutty Sark in Greenwich, London.

Paul Harrison, co-founder of The Travel Franchise, said: “Once again, we’ve beaten off stiff competition to prove ourselves the best in the business. Our members show they provide the ultimate expertise and customer service in this lucrative, but complex market. Our total cruise sales this year have already beaten the entirety of last year’s. But we’re not stopping there.”

Talking about the success of The Travel Franchise, he added: “We have launched our new Cruise Division to boost franchisees’ sales in the market. We are now launching our Cruise Mastery training programme, which takes our already-expert travel consultant members and immerses them in intensive cruise-specific training to become industry Masters.

“In addition, this month, Seminar at Sea, a seven-day cruise training aboard NCL’s new Prima ship will teach 200 franchisees everything they need to know to sell cruise expertly and confidently”.