Travel Counsellors wins Queen’s Award for Enterprise for the third time

Travel Counsellors has been honoured once again with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise!

As one of 220 organisations nationally to be recognised with this prestigious award, Travel Counsellors has been featured for excellence in International Trade, and marks the second time we’ve stood-out in this category for outstanding continuous growth, having previously won the same award in 2014.

Celebrating our 26th year in business, the latest accolade represents a trio of Queen’s Award wins for Travel Counsellors. The company’s first win for Innovation in 2003 was in recognition of a future-facing business model enabling experienced, travel professionals to run their businesses from home and be available for their customers around the clock.

Joining a select roll call of UK companies to win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise three times in its history, Travel Counsellors CEO, Steve Byrne, says, “We’re so proud and delighted to win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade for the second time. It is the ultimate business accolade, and testament to how far the company has come in building a global community of like-minded travel entrepreneurs who, alongside our support team based across four continents, share the same passion for customer care and providing a uniquely personal travel service in both leisure and corporate sectors.

“As a people-focussed business first and foremost, this award is truly down to our people, and the hard work, passion and dedication colleagues and business owners have shown over the last 12 months, showing true care for customers, and each other.”

Head-quartered in Manchester and in six further countries including Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, the UAE and Australia, Travel Counsellors joins 128 companies in the UK who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in international trade this year. The company generated more than £160m in sales from its overseas territories in 2019, and is amongst six others in the Greater Manchester area to feature in this year’s list, with all winners being personally approved by Her Majesty The Queen.

With twenty percent of Travel Counsellors business now generated outside of the UK and 700 franchisees now operating overseas, Byrne adds, “We continue to navigate through a challenging time for the travel industry, but the culture of the business, the power of showing care and the trusted relationships our platform enables our business owners to build with their customers means we are well placed to bounce back strongly, as we continue to grow our global community.

“With travellers across the globe increasingly seeking and appreciating the benefit and assurance of real, human, expert advice and guidance through these uncertain times, the true value of relying on an experienced, trusted travel professional shines through. We are looking forward to the future with optimism, and to the time when people can continue to explore the world again and do so in the most sustainable ways possible.”

Now in its 54th year, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious business awards in the country. Representatives from Travel Counsellors will celebrate the award during a royal reception for Queen’s Awards winners later this year.