Travelmole comment: Co-op Travel director Alistair Rowland on the Worldchoice takeover
Alistair Rowland is director of distribution with The Co-operative Travel Group, and his business responsibilities include The Freedom Travel Agents’ Consortium,
Here, he shares his thoughts on the proposed Travel Trust Association’s acquisition of Worldchoice.
“Broadly, this seems to be a reasonable deal for Worldchoice members, and with chairman Colin Heal promising that the deal would also mean further investment in the Worldchoice brand – coupled with allusions to a trust fund for members – it appears as though agencies are being looked after.
The deal certainly seems to be a positive one for head office staff, as there were rumours that the Peterborough HQ would be closed under the Stella proposals.
But acquisitions breed uncertainty and complications, and there will undoubtedly be some political manoeuvring over the coming months that may see management taking their eye off the ball. Time will tell.
However, it is reassuring to hear TTA director Todd Carpenter say that travel agents do not want to be franchises and do not want to be told what to sell; this has been the philosophy at Freedom since our inception and all of our members are treated as both partners and individuals.
Quite how TTA intends to provide that level of support across 800 agencies will be one of the more interesting developments within the new business.
Equally, whether or not there are any plans to provide uniform technology across this number of agencies – with all the advantages that brings – will also be an area to watch.
I understand that Worldchoice members will receive access to TTA back-office systems, technology and expertise, but technological takeovers are fraught with problems.
Moving forward, ultimately margins and terms will dictate how Worldchoice members feel about the sale, and it is way too early to predict how or whether these will change, a payback on such a deal needs to be found from somewhere, and that can only come from suppliers or agents, lets just hope that it’s not the members who suffer in the long term.”
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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