Turkish Airlines was voted their Business Partner of the Year by the 74 Travel Counsellors in the Republic of Ireland – and the award presented at the TCX conference in Powerscourt Hotel Resort & Spa to Onur Gul and Alper Sean Kanburoglu by Cathy Burke, TCI’s General Manager Ireland.
Sarah McCarthy won the award for Best Travel Counsellor.
Turkish Airlines, one of the conference’s headline sponors along with Travelport and Rentalcars.com, was also celebrating its move, on Saturday 6th April, to the new Istanbul Airport – which was the largest move in the history of global civil aviation and was filmed by National Geographic.
The TCX conference celebrated 14 years of Travel Counsellors in Ireland, during which time TCI has shown exceptional growth. The first conference comprised just Cathy Burke, five Travel Counsellors and no sponsors or business partners, while the 2019 conference, which focused on the experiences that Travel Counsellors provide to their customers, was attended by 57 Travel Counsellors, 23 partners, 10 head office staff, 11 sponsors, 72 representatives from 51 supplier companies, and four travel media. That’s quite some growth!
Travel Counsellors Ireland’s turnover has also grown to around €30 million a year, while numbers have increased steadily, despite the inevitable two or three who decide to drop out each year, to 74 currently – and with plans to increase that number further to “the high 90s”.
My TC App
Travel Counsellors are provided with extensive back-up facilities by head office, including the Phenix booking system, the increasing number of DMC partners, and the My TC App, which was introduced in September 2016.
My TC App provides clients with personalised information about all of their bookings, and during their travels provides them with access to all of their travel documentation and itineraries, even when they are offline. They can also contact their Travel Counsellor anytime, anywhere at the touch of a button.
This year’s winner of the My TC App award, Mandy Walsh (who also won the Most Helpful TC award), had almost 300 clients using the app last year.
Award Winners
Business Partner of the Year: Turkish Airlines
Most Impressive Pow Wow Stand: Aer Lingus
Top Cruise Sales: Sinead Lonergan
Top DMC Sales: Mary Foyle
Best Business Increase: Catherine Maguire
Best Corporate TC: Emer McDermott
Best Newcomer: Gina Quinn
Second Year Top Sales: Jamie Thomas
Third Year Top Sales: Simon Armstrong
My TC App: Mandy Walsh
Most Helpful TC: Mandy Walsh
Best Travel Counsellor: Sarah McCarthy
