Northern Irish agency L&J World Travel is celebrating its 10th anniversary after overcoming “absolute mayhem” caused by the pandemic.
Denise Logue and Michaela Johnston, who run their business under Brilliant Travel’s managed service travel partner (MSTP) division, became friends in the mid-1990s while working at Thomas Cook in Derry.
They launched L&J World Travel in 2015 from Logue’s kitchen, with the team having since grown to a further three colleagues working from the Derry office as well as three self-employed homeworkers.
Asked how it felt for the business to have reached the 10-year landmark, Logue said: “When you think back to when we were earning £50 a week at Thomas Cook in the ’90s and then you see us now, 30 years later, sitting with a successful business that will continue to grow, we’re very proud.”
The bulk of the agency’s bookings are higher-end “bucket and spade” trips, though there has also traditionally been a strong demand for long-haul honeymoon destinations.
The business partners, whose agency has been recognised by Jet2holidays as the top-performer from Belfast International airport on a number of occasions, said this year’s peak-selling period was not as busy as they had expected, but the lates market has been stronger.
Asked for the biggest booking over the past decade, they picked out Logue’s wedding in Mexico.
“Thirty-four people went to the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya on an all-inclusive basis for 11 nights,” said Logue.
“But we’ve done lots of big family groups. For example, they might be going away to celebrate the dad’s 70th.
“Families in Derry sometimes have seven kids and then those seven kids get married and have their own kids, so we have booked those kinds of families.”
When Logue and Johnston were growing up, they both attended Thornhill College, the inspiration for the school in Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls, a series set in the final years of the Troubles.
“Watching the show, it was just exactly how we lived,” said Johnston. “The army came on the school buses.”
Logue said: “Our families tried to keep us sheltered from what was going on, but you could see it. You went down the street to go to the shop and the army was there hiding behind bushes.”
In 1994, Johnston left school to join Thomas Cook’s youth training programme in Derry and she remained with the company until 2012. Logue was employed by the firm from 1995 until 2013.
When they set up L&J World Travel, they became “very busy, very quickly” as former clients rushed back to support them.
When the pandemic hit, however, it caused “absolute mayhem” for the business.
“For a start, we were in the middle of expanding and taking more staff on. So we had to pump the brakes and just re-evaluate everything,” said Johnston.
Their difficulties were made particularly acute because they received “zero help from the government”, she added, but this ended up making them even more determined to keep the agency afloat.
“We thought about how hard we had worked and knew there was no way we were closing – by hook or by crook,
we were going to keep the business open.”
The agency celebrated its 10th anniversary in June with a team visit to Derry restaurant Stitch & Weave.
