Trade-only worldwide tour operator JTA Travel is looking to develop its business through online travel agencies, call centres, tour operators and specialist agents.
JTA has recruited Paul Riches, as a consultant and head of specialist sales, to grow business through such channels. Riches previously worked for Bedswithease, lowcostbeds and youtravel.
Riches said: “JTA wants to develop its business with OTAs, call centres, tour operators and specialist agents, which are areas which I know very well. JTA has a great presence with traditional, retail agents, and has long established relationships with all the major consortia.”
Riches said initial conversations with OTAs and call centres had proved promising. “With JTA’s buying power within the market, and access to worldwide carriers and accommodation providers, there is real interest in what JTA has to offer from these new channels,” he said.
“We are a little bit different and very diverse in what we offer. We offer scheduled and lowcost flights, preferential rates on hotels, cruises and a range of add ons, including destination tours, airport lounges, car hire and more. We also pre-package and showcase these elements in brochures, online campaigns and through sponsored events with our travel agents. We give agents a desktop portal so they can select the elements they want, which allows them to easily create bespoke packages under JTA’s Atol, with support always on hand when needed,” he said.
Riches added: “It’s a good time to deal with JTA because of our financial protection. We need to tell more people about what we do. We are not just a flight consolidator, we offer other elements too to allow agents to create a fully-protected package to suit their clients’ needs.”
He said JTA was particularly strong in the USA, Dubai, Australia and the Far East.
Managing director Wayne Darrock added, ‘We are delighted to have Paul on board, to assist us to grow our business through these new channels. We have improved our technology over the last few months and are now offering our full range of flights, hotels, cruises through our desktop model, or via a direct API connection.”
He added: ‘We very much look forward to seeing our development of business within the online agency sector continue to blossom in the near future.”