Belfast-based Selective Travel Management has announced account
wins picked up during the pandemic totalling £135 million.
The company has retained the account of the Northern Ireland Government
and has won the business of UK workplace pensions scheme NEST Corporation and
the University of Sunderland. It is also one of three TMCs to be successful in
winning a place on a framework for public sector travel across the UK that
covers councils, the police, health bodies, and central government departments. The details of the framework have not been revealed but it is not the Crown Commercial Service framework for travel announced last year.
Selective’s
managing director Keith Graham said, “Travel was one of the first sectors to
feel the commercial impact of the pandemic and it has, arguably, been one of
the hardest hit, with tourism taking the brunt of the blow. Full recovery
will obviously take considerable time and may prove patchy across the world
but, in business travel terms, we are beginning to feel that the worst is
behind us.
“After
a year plus in lockdown many businesses and organisations are recognising that,
despite their obvious convenience, virtual connections cannot totally replace
face-to-face meetings, site visits, product inspections or networking
sorties. Many of our existing customers have already been testing the
waters with limited, essential travel, and we see that pattern ramping up
swiftly as more countries get the green light. Business leaders are desperate
to make up for lost time and they are planning ahead; corporate travel is back
on their business agenda.”