Vanessa Good, 25, is the founder and director of The Good Travel Company. She discovered her passion for business and travel when returning home to Ayrshire in 2009 after living in Australia. Met by Ayrshire in deep recession with many friends unable to find work or facing unemployment, she got involved in the family’s finance and foreign exchange company setting out to develop the business and ‘get creative’ when times were tough. This is where the idea of starting a travel business came to light. Together with the invaluable support from PSYBT, securing a great franchise opportunity from the UK’s largest independent travel agency, Hay’s Travel, and utilising the already existing foreign currency customer base of over 8,000 people, The Good Travel Company was born.
The Good Travel Company, based on the High Street in Irvine, is Ayrshire’s newest independent travel agency offering everything from bus trips to Blackpool to luxury weddings in the Caribbean.
Vanessa explains that she loves the challenge that each day brings when running your own business. Although it's a tough time to be in any sort of business it's exciting to use new and creative ways to develop your brand.
She says “being involved in a travel agency is a particularly nice business to be in as people are at their happiest when they are dreaming of sun, sea and adventures!” Competition is a huge challenge for Vanessa, competing with online companies who are trading at low profit margins and trying to drive out independent agencies can prove frustrating but The Good Travel Company can match low prices & often give a better deal.
Vanessa is brand new to the Travel Industry so she is finding her feet in an industry which is rather complex & vast, so for that reason she has taken on a staff member who has over 27yrs experience - knowledge which you can't put a price on.
Plans for the future are to grow the company. Ideally Vanessa would like two more branches in the next 3-5 years in Ayr & Dumfries as there are foreign exchange outlets in each town. She’d also like to partner with community & charity projects, stating “yes, having a profitable business would be nice but I think it's equally as important to give back.”
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