The post Advantage Travel Partnership announces record financial results for 2023/24 appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily Media.
On the back of its highly successful annual conference hosted in Malta earlier this month Advantage Travel Centres Limited (trading as Advantage Travel Partnership) has announced its year-end financial results for 2023/24.
The company cites that this strong set of results was achieved due to management maintaining an unwavering focus on strengthening and growing the business through a clear strategy centred on driving commercial value for all stakeholders across the travel community. Against this backdrop, Advantage delivered strong financial results aligned with its strategic pillars of Footprint Expansion, Product and Portfolio Capitalisation, Digital Transformation and Operational Excellence and People and Culture.
The overall financial results achieved for the year represent the highest level of profitability in the Group’s history and will provide all stakeholders of the Partnership with the reassurance and comfort of a strong balance sheet, together with the ability to further invest in products and services to leverage further growth and scale in the future.
Commenting on the results, Advantage Travel Partnership’s Chair, Steven Esom said: “2024 marked a watershed year for the UK Outbound Travel industry as we experienced our first true return to normality since the pandemic. Despite challenges including political uncertainty, air traffic control strikes, extreme weather events, and ongoing cost-of-living pressures, our industry demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability.
The sector’s performance amid economic headwinds was particularly noteworthy, with UK outbound travel emerging as a leader in consumer spending, outperforming many other service sectors. This trend underscores a fundamental shift in consumer priorities – even under severe budget constraints, both leisure and corporate travel remain essential expenditures, with family holidays proving non-negotiable and corporate managed travel programmes seeing solid growth.
Our membership grew significantly, with the Advantage Global Network now spanning 84 countries across all key source markets. Our collective UK membership turnover exceeded £8.8bn – a 16% increase year-over-year – while our global network reached £17bn.
The group made substantial progress against its KPIs, delivering on strategic goals while building strong financial performance and continuing to strengthen its balance sheet.
A significant milestone was the acquisition of Cork Bays and Fisher, a longstanding and respected brand in the financial insurance sector. This strategic move has strengthened our financial services division and provided opportunities to grow our underwriting capability.
During the year our members continued to thrive, with many expanding into new locations and sectors, driving growth in a positive trading environment.
Across the year we maintained our prominent media presence, successfully amplifying the voice of the travel agent and through our work with the UK Outbound Travel Lobbying Group, which we established in 2022, we continued to gain industry support and effectively communicate the sector’s challenges and opportunities to government, MPs, and policymakers.
Looking ahead, we face continuing geopolitical uncertainties and economic headwinds. While inflation has moderated, consumer spending remains under pressure. In the UK, our members face mounting operational challenges from increased staffing costs and higher National Insurance Contributions, creating complex decisions around cost management and profitability.
Advantage enters the future from a position of continued strength, committed to enhancing member benefits through our integrated one-stop-single-stop approach.
I extend my gratitude to Julia for her outstanding leadership and to the entire Advantage team for their loyalty to the business and commitment to members. As we progress, we will remain focused on building upon our strengths while adapting to meet the evolving needs of our stakeholders.”
Julia Lo Bue-Said, Chief Executive, Advantage Travel Partnership, added: “During the year Advantage Travel Partnership achieved a set of outstanding results, demonstrating excellence across every aspect of our operations. We surpassed a number of our ambitious strategic goals while delivering exceptional financial performance, and in doing so building a robust platform for the group in order to consider strategic investments that align with our future objectives.
In a business environment that continued to present economic challenges through pressure on consumer spending and inflationary pressures our members demonstrated remarkable resilience and growth, with many expanding their operations into new locations, capitalising on positive market conditions and proving the strength of our partnership model.
Our commitment to empowering members through our single-stop approach continued to support delivery of our footprint expansion and driving positive commercial results for all our stakeholders. Led by John Sullivan, providing members with access to an unparalleled range of commercial products and services to operate across both leisure and business travel sectors, has established ourselves as a transformative innovator with a diverse product portfolio designed to drive success in an ever-evolving marketplace.
Due to the strength of our proposition, during the year we saw over 50 new branches join the Partnership across our operating models. Our Advantage Managed Service (AMS) model, which celebrated its 15th year anniversary during the year, marked the occasion with record financial results as turnover grew to £155m in the year, a 33% year on year growth.
With a repurposed strategy and under the new leadership of Andrea Caufield-Smith, our Global Business Travel division saw substantial investment in airline content and product development, including the creation of an enhanced business travel commercial portfolio through a bespoke air programme. This comprehensive offering encompasses accommodation, car hire and technological business solutions.
As we navigate the evolving landscape of an interconnected global world, our global network partnerships have become even more crucial and during the year we welcomed a number of new members to the Advantage Global Network, with two from the USA and one from India. Through our expanded international network, which now covers 84 countries, we’re building bridges across continents and sectors, creating opportunities that benefit our entire community.
Our successful transition to a remote business with a clear vision on being an employer of choice and attracting and retaining the best people, continues to gather pace. Through removing limiting geographical barriers and reviewing our compensation and benefits, we can attract and retain top talent for every role.
During the year we remained high profile across the national media as well as intensified our activity in engaging with government with more political activity. To support the direction of The UK Outbound Travel Group – a new brand identity was introduced, together with a new charter for the group and an enhanced MP engagement programme rolled out, aiming to build on the success the group has had with members meeting their local MPs.
Our continued collaboration with all our membership steering groups, will help us remain laser-focused on what is important to members and drive progress in areas that deliver greater value for their businesses.
The relationships we have with all our stakeholders have flourished because we understand that true success lies in creating value that benefits all parties, fostering an ecosystem of innovation and sustainable progress. This approach has not only strengthened our market position but has also enabled us to consistently deliver exceptional value to our members while building a resilient foundation for future growth.
As always, our strong performance as a business – both strategically and financially – over the past year could not have been achieved without the unwavering support of my team and the progressive mindset of our board of directors. The success of our business, both today and going forward, is a true reflection of their hard work and commitment and my heartfelt thanks go to each and every one of my colleagues and board directors for their continued energy, passion and loyalty to the success of the Partnership.”
Speaking about the group’s progress in 2025, Lo Bue-Said added: “While 2025 is proving to be a year of significant change, with economic and political conditions remaining somewhat unsettled globally, we are pleased to report that we continue to trade well across all our core business areas.
This year has been particularly notable for the successful delivery of a number of key strategic initiatives that were announced at our highly successful conference in Malta earlier this month. Central to our strategic evolution has been the launch of our dynamic new branding identity and digital platform, which better reflects our forward-thinking approach and market positioning. Alongside this, we have rolled out a comprehensive new mission statement, vision, and core values framework that perfectly encapsulates the ambitious growth strategy we have developed for the Partnership and our vision to be the ultimate partner for the global travel community.
As a unified team, we are energised and fully committed to executing this strategy and taking the business to the next level. Our focus remains on delivering exceptional value to all stakeholders while positioning ourselves for sustained long-term growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Despite the current economic headwinds, our strategic clarity and team commitment give us confidence in our ability to navigate these challenges and emerge even stronger.”
The post Advantage Travel Partnership announces record financial results for 2023/24 appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
Source: traveldailymedia
