The Good Travel Company is preparing to open an agency in Dumfries to operate alongside its existing currency bureau, having received £10,000 in support from Jet2holidays.
The business, which successfully pitched for funding in the tour operator’s Scale Up Your Street competition, already operates the same model in Ayr, where the travel division was launched in 2014.
The Good Travel Company director Vanessa Good: “We’ve got existing footfall from our currency bureau, so the idea is to convert some of that to the travel side.”
The business plans to recruit a branch manager and two agents for the Dumfries site, located in the town’s Bank Street.
The premises is currently being refurbished with the ambition of having the travel division open by peaks.
“We’re hoping to target the wider area in Dumfries and Galloway,” said Good. “We know there are some really good existing businesses in that area but we always think there’s room for different business models.”
Good, whose great-grandfather opened the original family business in 1952, said the company was aiming to develop its “experiential retail” offering.
The Ayr premises, which will unveil a luxury lounge later this summer, boasts a wine bar and will soon offer clients the chance to don virtual reality (VR) headsets.
The technology, which will also be rolled out to the Dumfries store, will enable clients to take 360-degree tours of destinations, cruise ships and hotels.
“We’re quite early adopters,” said Good, noting that the company had already trialled a different style of VR headset.
“You don’t want to ruin the element of surprise, but we’ve had people upgrading their room category after viewing the options through the headset,” she said, adding: “Experiential retail is the future of the high street.”
The Ayr store, which has five travel agents and two currency specialists, sells a “fairly equal” share of package holidays, cruises and long-haul trips.
Jet2holidays provided funding to support expansion in Dumfries after a panel was impressed with The Good Travel Company’s online pitch as part of the inaugural Scale Up Your Street competition.
Welcoming the financial boost, Good said: “It was great encouragement that we’re obviously on the right track and have proven success in our existing model here in Ayr, which Jet2 has seen.”
Asked about the possibility of further stores in the future, she said: “We’ll see how things go. We like to expand slowly.”
She added, however, that the Scale Up Your Street panel had spoken highly of the business’ potential.
“When you expand from one branch to two it feels quite scary, but we’ve heard that going from two to three can be a bit easier,” she said.
