travel counsellors ireland ltd

• Netherlands
• South Africa
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom

From our roots in the North West of England, UK, to an international travel business with operations in Ireland for the past 17 years, our story is one of incredible growth and success. And we’d love you to be part of our next chapter.

From day one we’ve followed a pioneering model

We were founded in 1994 by David Speakman, who anticipated the shift towards travel professionals running their own leisure or corporate travel businesses from home.

His pioneering model meant franchisees could provide an unrivalled level of personal care and attention for their customers when creating bespoke travel experiences.

Our entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to offering a truly personalised travel service, underpinned by the values of trust and customer intimacy, remain as true today as they did back then. As we approach 2,000 colleagues in seven different countries, these principles continue to guide us to new heights.

Growing, year-on-year

We welcome our 100th Travel Counsellor to the family

We’re the very first travel company to win the Queen's Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category

We launch our own unique financial trust in the UK, to ensure our customers' money is 100% safe when booking with us, no matter what

Our growth continues apace, as we launch Travel Counsellors in Ireland and the Netherlands

Our bespoke-built, in-house booking platform, Phenix, is launched. It enables our people to create truly tailor-made travel itineraries.

We welcome Travel Counsellors in South Africa

Our 1,000th Travel Counsellor joins the company

Travel Counsellors is named in The Telegraph 1,000 Britain’s Brightest Businesses

Our global expansion continues, as we expand into the UAE, and again in 2013, when we open in Belgium

A new chapter

With our 20th year celebrations comes a significant financial investment from private equity firm, Equistone Partners Europe.

We move Travel Counsellors headquarters from its birthplace in Bolton to stunning new £2m premises at Trafford City in Manchester.

As we continue to scale and grow, we recruit the 300th member of our global support team.

The myTC app is launched. With a 4+ star rating on the Apple and Android store, over 15,000 users a year enjoy the paperless experience of having their travel documentation all in one app, and connecting to their Travel Counsellor at the tap of a button.

Vitruvian Partners back our high-growth, tech-enabled platform, as our community numbers near 2,000 Travel Counsellors.

We’re awarded ‘Best National Travel Retailer’ at the British Travel Awards, and will retain that title in 2020 too.

We scoop the ‘Queen’s Award for Enterprise’ for the third time in the same year that our first corporate travel MD is appointed.

We’re proud to be named ‘The Best Place to Work in Travel’ at the 2022 Travel Industry Awards by TTG, and climb the rankings in the Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250 for the sixth consecutive year.

Fast-forward to the present

We celebrated a record-breaking year in 2022, with sales topping the £800m mark. We also enjoyed the biggest sales month in our history in January 2023, with the value of bookings exceeding £114m.

We only back exceptional high-growth technology-enabled businesses with stable, proven leadership teams Ben Johnson Partner at Vitruvian Partners

Find your personal Travel Counsellor

We have more than 1,900 independent Travel Counsellors worldwide, each with the expertise and passion to create your perfect trip and take care of every detail, every step of your journey.

• Let’s talk

Get to know us: Travel Counsellors

We’re a global travel business with customer care in our DNA. We empower brilliant people with a passion for travel to run their own corporate or leisure travel businesses, taking care of the travel arrangements of more than 450,000 customers each year.

Who are Travel Counsellors?

The innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that Travel Counsellors was founded on over 25 years ago is as life-changing now as it was then. Travel Counsellors was born out of the desire to serve customers with the best travel experiences possible, and to create inspiring career opportunities for people who have a passion for travel.

Now operating as a truly international business across seven countries, we’ve come a long way since we were founded in 1994.

> Read our full story

What do we do?

We're a community of people from all walks of life who put ourselves in our customers shoes, curating their perfect trip and making it personal.

How it all began

Travel Counsellors globally

itineraries booked annually

the year we were founded

A culture of caring

We’re in the business of changing lives. We nurture a people-first culture, with care at the heart of everything we do.

We lead by example

• We live and breathe the values that make us special
• We all take responsibility as role models in our business
• We guide, we don’t instruct; and we nurture creativity
• We empower our people to be the best version of themselves

We’re a connected team

• Our clear vision and strategy mean we really know our ‘why’
• We’re united by a clear sense of purpose and a shared set of values
• Our environment is open and honest, and we encourage 360° feedback
• We trust our people, empowering them to make decisions about how they work
• We’re passionate about attracting and developing the best talent to deliver our vision
• We encourage learning and development, and strive for continual improvement

We support & celebrate

• Our culture is caring and supportive
• We love celebrating our success and rewarding our people

We put the trust into travel

When it comes to travel, it’s important to know you’re booking with someone you can trust. As a company that truly cares, we place trust at the centre of everything we do. Our business model is built on establishing trusted personal relationships with all of our customers, whether that’s our leisure holidaymakers or our business travellers.

We work in partnership with thousands of hand-picked suppliers and trusted travel providers around the globe to ensure our customers receive the highest possible levels of protection, care, support and service wherever and whenever they travel with us.

The world’s our office

“You’ll be empowered to work on things you’re passionate about. Your ideas will matter. You matter.” Mandy Walsh, Gold Travel Counsellor

400 Members of support staff internationally

60% Repeat booking rate over

“I love caring for my customers and growing my business as a result. Joining Travel Counsellors is the best thing I’ve done.” Sinéad Lonergan, Travel Counsellor