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Online travel business Explorer Travel is looking to expand by buying over retail shops and setting up a homeworking network to rival Travel Counsellors and Hays.

The company, which was set up four years ago, currently has 50 franchisees who sell specialist holidays online and over the phone. The sites are very niche, and include opera holidays, Red Sea holidays and luxury train travel.

In the Autumn, owner Steve Woods plans to launch a homeworking network. "We'd like to target travel agents who are frustrated with working in an old fashioned travel agency and want to try something new.

"We will offer a very powerful package, much better than Hays or Travel Counsellors. Agents will have Traveltek technology for dynamic packaging and they can manage their own live bookable offers. The will be able to load offers on to travel portals like lastminute.com."

Woods, a former marketing consultant to Worldchoice, is also looking to buy or merge with existing retail travel agencies.

"So many independent agencies have been operating the same way for years. I want to bring the agency into the 21st century. Travel consultants would be looking online together with the customer, rather than having a 'them and us' attitude.

"There are still people want to want the reassurance of booking with a travel agent

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