Barrhead Travel to post record result as people 'book human'

Key events have included a change in ownership at Barrhead in 2018, which saw the family-owned company sell up to US-based Travel Leaders Group (now part of Internova Travel Group), and her own rise to the top of an organisation she joined as a trainee.
However, while the ubiquity of the internet means many people now book holidays online, Dobson said what has not changed is the appetite of consumers for advice from reputable travel agents.
'That demand is still there,' she told The Herald Business HQ Monthly. 'I think what has changed in the industry is definitely technology.
'Obviously, the internet was a huge thing back when it launched. Barrhead was one of the first agencies to adopt this. We launched our first website in 1999. When I first started you would phone operators and suppliers to book holidays. Now with the click of a button you have your flights there, your accommodation options, your cruise options. Everything is a lot more accessible.
'Also, the product has really changed. There is lots available for customers. Before you would maybe have to travel down to Manchester or London from Scotland to access flights. The accessibility is so much better. There are so many more flights now out of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Dundee.
'And people are becoming a lot more adventurous. When I first started out, it was only the minority who went on holiday. Now the majority of people I would say look forward to that annually, if not several times a year.'
Read more:
Dobson added: 'How we look after our people is a real focus now. I have really embraced that. If you look after your people, you look after your customers and also the business. Having a happy workplace is really essential to make business work.'
Much of the Barrhead workforce continues to operate in store, with the company now running 90 outlets throughout the UK. The majority of holidays sold by the firm, which has 565 directly employed staff and 1,000 in total when self-employed consultants and franchise members are included, take place in-store, despite the convenience of the internet.
'Our website is more of a shop window,' Dobson said. 'You can book online. Maybe about 10% of customers book online. People search on the website then actually come into store for booking. They do their research first of all.
'We have invested quite a lot in our website and will continue to invest, but more so from an information perspective, not from an online booking perspective. But if people choose to book online, the facility is there.'
She also emphasised the importance of customers being able to count on Barrhead's deeply knowledgeable staff, which includes teams of specialists for different destinations.
'We train our people. We send them out to resorts so they can see the hotels, they can experience the restaurants, they can take the trips, so that we can recommend different excursions and things to the consumer,' Dobson said.
'People generally want a bit of advice.'
Barrhead's ability to serve customers has been greatly enhanced since becoming part of Internova, one of the biggest travel companies in the US with more than 100,000 advisers on its books.
(Image: Barrhead Travel) Barrhead president Jacqueline Dobson with managing director Nikki Tempest-Mitchell and members of the team
Dobson, whose role was expanded recently to include responsibility for four businesses in the US, said being part of such a big company gives Barrhead access to more products, better pricing, superior technology and investment, all of which has powered the roll-out of Barrhead stores south of the Border. Further store openings are planned.
'We are 'book human',' she said. 'Obviously, the high street has had issues but we want physical stores, whether that is in shopping centres, retail parks or the high street.
'We have a commitment to opening more stores.'
While many households continue to come under pressure from the cost of living, Dobson said people are still prioritising holidays over other forms of discretionary expenditure, as underlined by recent major surveys from PwC and Barclays.
This continues a trend that first became evident in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more:
'People are definitely ring-fencing their holiday spend,' she said. 'They are also booking their main holidays further ahead than ever before.
'People work so hard now that time with their families is precious. We see multi-generational families booking a lot more as well – grandparents, mum and dad and the children.
'A lot of people are time-poor and a holiday is a great way of being able to spend time with your loved ones.
'For instance, you can get a cruise for everybody. These kinds of holidays bring people together at meal times.
'They maybe do their own thing during the day but in the evenings they will come together and enjoy spending time together.
'I just think people are really time-poor and trying to spend as much time with each other as they possibly can, especially after Covid.'
Cruises have become an extremely popular way of holidaying among Barrhead's customers in recent years,
and now account for around one third of its bookings.
'What is really emerging now is river cruising,' Dobson said. 'That has really taken up popularity. There are so many more new ships being built and coming on board. It is really popular.
'River cruising is definitely an emerging market for us.'
She added: 'The Danube is really popular and some of the other rivers in Europe, but also, the Mekong [in Asia] is really an up-and-coming destination for river cruising.
'These smaller boats can get into places the larger vessels can't.'
Dobson observed Scots are increasingly adventurous in their choice of holidays, too, and highlighted India, Japan, Kenya and South Africa among the most sought-after destinations.
'People want to experience things more,' she said. 'Our touring and adventure business has increased by 25% this year over 2024. It is mainly destinations such as Japan, India, Kenya and South Africa.
'These are the destinations that are up and coming for touring and adventure. In South Africa people will maybe spend some time in Cape Town and then go on to a safari. Japan is an up-and-coming destination as well – we have seen a real spike in bookings for Japan.'
Given the positive trends reported by Barrhead, it is no surprise the company is on course for another record-breaking year.
Customers are already booking for 2026, taking advantage of the opportunity to stagger the cost of holidays via regular direct debit payments, Dobson noted. This allows people to spread the cost of holidays over 10, 12 or 14-month periods.
However, Dobson believes more should be done at the government level in order to support the industry. In particular, she argues the Scottish Government should be helping high-street businesses such as travel agents and highlights the contrast with England where the retail and hospitality sectors are continuing to receive rates relief.
'I do think the Government needs to look at the high street and how we can regenerate it,' she said.
'Travel agents, charity shops and coffee shops really prop up, in my opinion, the high street – and that's not retail parks or shopping centres, that's the high street in general. And I do think there is a lot more it can do in terms of rates.
'We are really at a disadvantage to our counterparts in England.'
Dobson also believes ministers must do more to broaden the provision of educational courses to train young people for entering the industry, and for the apprenticeship levy to be reformed, noting that many companies pay more than they receive in return in terms of accessing funding for the training of apprentices.
She would like to have an apprentice in every Barrhead Travel store.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

NBC News

32 minutes ago

• NBC News

BREAKING: Judge orders release of Mahmoud Khalil

Tech News Accounts peddling child abuse content flood some X hashtags as safety partner cuts ties Thorn, a nonprofit that provides detection and moderation software related to child safety, said it canceled its contract with X after the platform stopped paying it. June 18, 2025, 4:57 PM EDT / Updated June 18, 2025, 5:58 PM EDT By Ben Goggin When Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022, he said that addressing the problem of child sexual abuse material on the platform was his ' top priority.' Three years later, the problem appears to be escalating, as anonymous, seemingly automated X accounts flood hashtags with hundreds of posts per hour advertising the sale of the illegal material. At the same time, Thorn, a California-based nonprofit organization that works with tech companies to provide technology that can detect and address child sexual abuse content, told NBC News that it had terminated its contract with X. Thorn said that X stopped paying recent invoices for its work, though it declined to provide details about its deal with the company citing legal sensitivities. X said Wednesday that it was moving toward using its own technology to address the spread of child abuse material. Some of Thorn's tools are designed to address the very issue that appears to be growing on the platform. 'We recently terminated our contract with X due to nonpayment,' Cassie Coccaro, head of communications at Thorn, told NBC News. 'And that was after months and months of outreach, flexibility, trying to make it work. And ultimately we had to stop the contract.' Many aspects of the child exploitation ads issue, which NBC News first reported on in January 2023, remain the same on the platform. Sellers of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) continue to use hashtags based on sexual keywords to advertise to people looking to buy CSAM. Their posts direct prospective buyers to other platforms where users are asked for money in return for the child abuse material. Other aspects are new: Some accounts now appear to be automated (also known as bots), while others have taken advantage of 'Communities,' a relatively new feature launched in 2021 that encourages X users to congregate in groups 'closer to the discussions they care about most.' Using Communities, CSAM advertisers have been able to post into groups of tens of thousands of people devoted to topics like incest, seemingly without much scrutiny. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P), an independent online CSAM watchdog group, reviewed several X accounts and hashtags flagged by NBC News that were promoting the sale of CSAM, and followed links promoted by several of the accounts. The organization said that, within minutes, it was able to identify accounts that posted images of previously identified CSAM victims who were as young as 7. It also found apparent images of CSAM in thumbnail previews populated on X and in links to Telegram channels where CSAM videos were posted. One such channel showed a video of a boy estimated to be as young as 4 being sexually assaulted. NBC News did not view or have in its possession any of the abuse material. Lloyd Richardson, director of information technology at C3P, said the behavior being exhibited by the X users was 'a bit old hat' at this point, and that X's response 'has been woefully insufficient.' 'It seems to be a little bit of a game of Whac-A-Mole that goes on,' he said. 'There doesn't seem to be a particular push to really get to the root cause of the issue.' X says it has a zero-tolerance policy 'towards any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation.' A spokesperson for X directed NBC News to a post from its @Safety account detailing what the company says are new efforts to find and remove child abuse material. 'At X, we have zero tolerance for child sexual exploitation in any form. Until recently, we leveraged partnerships that helped us along the way,' the company said in the post. 'We are proud to provide an important update on our continuous work detecting Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) content, announcing today that we have launched additional CSAM hash matching efforts. 'This system allows X to hash and match media content quickly and securely, keeping the platform safer without sacrificing user privacy,' the post continued. 'This is enabled by the incredible work of our safety engineering team, who have built state of the art systems to further strengthen our enforcement capabilities.' The company said that the system would allow the company to automatically detect known CSAM and remove it, though it was not clear how it differs from existing hashing technology. The spokesperson did not respond to questions about Thorn's allegations regarding the payments. A review of many hashtags with terms known to be associated with CSAM shows that the problem is, if anything, worse than when Musk initially took over. What was previously a trickle of posts of fewer than a dozen per hour is now a torrent propelled by accounts that appear to be automated — some posting several times a minute. Despite the continued flood of posts and sporadic bans of individual accounts, the hashtags observed by NBC News over several weeks remained open and viewable as of Wednesday. And some of the hashtags that were identified in 2023 by NBC News as hosting the child exploitation advertisements are still being used for the same purpose today. Historically, Twitter and then X have attempted to block certain hashtags associated with child exploitation. When NBC News first reported on the use of X to market CSAM, X's head of trust and safety said the company knew it had work to do and would be making changes, including the development of automated systems to detect and block hashtags. In January 2024, X CEO Linda Yaccarino testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the company had strengthened its enforcement 'with more tools and technology to prevent bad actors from distributing, searching for, or engaging with [child sexual exploitation] content across all forms of media.' In May 2024, X said it helped Thorn test a tool to 'proactively detect text-based child sexual exploitation.' The 'self-hosted solution was deployed seamlessly into our detection mechanisms, allowing us to hone in on high-risk accounts and expand child sexual exploitation text detection coverage,' X said. Pailes Halai, Thorn's senior manager of accounts and partnerships, who oversaw the X contract, said that some of Thorn's software was designed to address issues like those posed by the hashtag CSAM posts, but that it wasn't clear if they ever fully implemented it. 'They took part in the beta with us last year,' he said. 'So they helped us test and refine, etc, and essentially be an early adopter of the product. They then subsequently did move on to being a full customer of the product, but it's not very clear to us at this point how and if they used it.' Without Thorn, it's not entirely clear what child safety mechanisms X is currently employing. 'Our technology is designed with safety in mind,' Halai said. 'It's up to the platform to enforce and use the technology appropriately … What we do know on our side is it's designed to catch the very harms that you're talking about.' Halai said Thorn didn't take the termination of its contract with X lightly. 'It was very much a last-resort decision for us to make,' he said. 'We provided the services to them. We did it for as long as we possibly could, exhausted all possible avenues and had to terminate, ultimately, because, as a nonprofit, we're not exactly in the business of helping to sustain something for a company like X, where we're actually incurring huge costs.' Currently, some hashtags, like #childporn, are blocked when using X's search function, but other hashtags are open to browse and are filled with posts advertising CSAM for sale. NBC News found posts appearing to peddle CSAM in 23 hashtags that are oftentimes used together in the posts. NBC News only identified two hashtags that were blocked by X. The hashtags that were available to be posted to and viewed during an NBC News' review of the platform ranged from references to incest and teenagers to slightly more coded terms, like combinations of words with the name of the defunct video chat platform Omegle, which shut down in 2023 after a child sex exploitation lawsuit. Some hashtags contained jumbled letters and only contained posts advertising CSAM, indicating that they were created with the exclusive purpose of housing the advertisements. Some usernames of accounts posting the ads were simply a jumble of words associated with CSAM content on the platform, mixing names of social media platforms with other keywords. Many of the users linked directly to Telegram channels in their posts or their account bios and included explicit references to CSAM. Some posts linked to Discord channels or solicited direct messages to secure Discord links. Telegram and Discord have distinct positions in the internet's child exploitation ecosystem, offering semiprivate and private venues for people looking to sell or buy child exploitation material. NBC News previously reported on 35 cases in which adults were prosecuted on charges of kidnapping, grooming or sexual assault that allegedly involved communications on Discord. A Discord representative said, 'Discord has zero tolerance for child sexual abuse material, and we take immediate action when we become aware of it, including removing content, banning users, and reporting to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).' The company said in response to NBC News' outreach that it removed multiple servers 'for policy violations unrelated to the sale of CSAM.' A representative for Telegram said 'CSAM is explicitly forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and such content is removed whenever discovered.' The representative pointed to the company's partnership with the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation, which maintains a database of known CSAM and provides tools to detect and remove it. While some of the X accounts posted publicly, others solicited and offered CSAM through X's Communities feature, where users create groups based on specific topics. NBC News observed groups with tens of thousands of members in which CSAM was solicited or was offered to be sold. In a group with over 70,000 members devoted to 'incest confessions,' multiple users posted multiple times linking to Telegram channels, explicitly referencing CSAM. 'I'm selling 6cp folder for only 90$,' one user wrote, linking to a Telegram account. CP is a common online abbreviation for 'child pornography.' CSAM has been a perpetual problem on the internet and social media, with many companies employing specialized teams and building automated systems to identify and remove abuse content and those spreading it. But Musk also instituted drastic cuts to the company's trust and safety teams and disbanded the company's Trust and Safety Council. In 2023, the company said that it was detecting more CSAM than in previous years and that it had increased staffing devoted to the issue despite larger trust and safety layoffs. Richardson, C3P's director of information technology, said that while X will sometimes remove accounts that are flagged to it for violating rules around CSAM, 'a new account pops up in two seconds, so there's not a lot of in-depth remediation to the problem. That's just sort of the bare minimum that we're looking at here.' He said an increasing reliance on artificial intelligence systems for moderation, if X is using them, could be in part to blame for such oversights. According to Richardson, AI systems are good at sorting through large datasets and flagging potential issues, but that, currently, systems will inevitably over- or under-moderate without human judgment at the end. 'There should be an actual incident response when someone is selling child sexual abuse material on your service, right? We've become completely desensitized to that. We're dealing with the sale of children being raped,' Richardson said. 'You can't automate your way out of this problem.' Ben Goggin Ben Goggin is the deputy tech editor for NBC News.

Edinburgh Reporter

34 minutes ago

• Edinburgh Reporter

How MOT Check is empowering first-time drivers across the UK

MOT Check, a London-based online MOT information service founded by Connor Evans in 2024, is a fresh player in the UK automotive market that has already achieved thousands of daily users thanks to its comprehensive toolkit. The company has been especially successful in helping first-time drivers safely get on the road by effectively conveying the importance of timely background MOT checks for those who are looking to purchase their first vehicle. 'The UK is sadly known for its bad vehicle sales practices, with many sellers providing insufficient or downright incorrect MOT information to get a better deal. This isn't something we can overlook — in some cases, people buy cars that are heavily damaged without ever realizing it, and that can lead to very costly repairs at best and terrible road accidents at worst. Inexperienced drivers often fall victim to these scams, which is why we find this audience highly important to protect — hence, our detailed and convenient database,' says Connor Evans, CEO of MOTCheck. MOT Check functions as a website that offers drivers the ability to enter their vehicle's registration number to quickly get an in-depth report on its MOT history, technical information, taxes, and more. This way any driver can quickly estimate if the vehicle they are about to purchase is indeed in good condition and if it had any issues in the past that need to be addressed. 'There are lots of areas that newcomers aren't properly aware of. For example, a vehicle that is known to have been in use by a company is much more likely to have a significantly higher mileage. Its condition is generally worse as well. There are many things that people who are only starting their journey as licensed drivers need to understand to ensure safety for everyone and avoid extra costs or fines,' says Connor Evans. This is why MOT Check doesn't simply analyze multiple official sources and reliable third-party services — the resulting report also contains helpful tips that enable drivers to get a full picture of what their car's MOT history means. 'Raw data is only as good as you can understand it, and our goal was to ensure that we don't just provide it with no context. It is easier, sure, but modern users are accustomed to an entirely different level of convenience in every other industry, so we believe that we have to attain it as well. Our reports aren't just comprehensive: they are analytical and we ensure that anyone can understand the true meaning behind the data, regardless of their expertise in the field. We are proud to say that our systems provide the most inclusive and accessible results in the local market,' says Connor Evans. As Evans adds, the team behind MOT Check currently works hard on increasing their algorithms' capabilities in order to provide even more information in a convenient way. The company is also focused on delivering new helpful features that will be particularly useful for first-time drivers, such as SMS notifications and email reminders for timely checks. 'We are a new and highly motivated team, so our hands are always busy, but we are happy to use all of our expertise to ensure that the UK's roads and the automotive market in general become friendlier and more understandable for everyone. We have gathered all of this information and spent years working in the niche so that everyone else can get our knowledge in a matter of seconds — this is what the future holds,' says Evans. Like this: Like Related

Rhyl Journal

an hour ago

• Rhyl Journal

Nigerian communities set to have oil pollution High Court claims tried in 2027

Members of the Bille and Ogale communities in the Niger Delta, which have a combined population of around 50,000, are suing Shell plc and a Nigerian-based subsidiary of the company, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, which is now the Renaissance Africa Energy Company. The two communities began legal action in 2015, claiming they have suffered systemic and ongoing oil pollution for years due to the companies' operations in the African country, including pollution of drinking water. They are seeking compensation and asking for the companies to clean up the damage caused by the spills. The companies are defending the claims, saying that the majority of spills are caused by criminal acts of third parties or illegal oil refining, for which they are not liable. On Friday, Mrs Justice May ruled on more than 20 preliminary issues in the claims, following a hearing held in London over four weeks in February and March. She said that 'some 85 spills have, so far, been identified', but added that the case was 'still at a very early stage'. Her findings included that Shell could be sued for damage from pipeline spills caused by third parties, such as vandals, in efforts to steal oil, a process known as bunkering. She also said that while there was a five-year limitation period on bringing legal claims, a 'new cause of action will arise each day that oil remains' on land affected by the spills. The cases are due to be tried over four months, starting in March 2027. Reacting to the ruling, the leader of the Ogale community, King Bebe Okpabi, said: 'It has been 10 years now since we started this case, we hope that now Shell will stop these shenanigans and sit down with us to sort this out. 'People in Ogale are dying; Shell need to bring a remedy. 'We thank the judicial system of the UK for this judgment.' Matthew Renishaw, international development partner at law firm Leigh Day, which represents the claimants, said: 'This outcome opens the door to Shell being held responsible for their legacy pollution as well as their negligence in failing to take reasonable steps to prevent pollution from oil theft or local refining.' He continued: 'Our clients reiterate, as they have repeatedly for 10 years, that they simply want Shell to clean up their pollution and compensate them for their loss of livelihood. 'It is high time that Shell stop their legal filibuster and do the right thing.' A Shell spokesperson said that the company welcomed the judgment. They said: 'For many years, the vast majority of spills in the Niger Delta have been caused by third parties acting unlawfully, such as oil thieves who drill holes in pipelines, or saboteurs. 'This criminality is the cause of the majority of spills in the Bille and Ogale claims, and we maintain that Shell is not liable for the criminal acts of third parties or illegal refining. 'These challenges are managed by a joint venture which Shell's former subsidiary operated, using its expertise in spill response and clean-up. 'The spills referenced in this litigation were cleaned up by the joint venture regardless of the cause, as required by Nigerian law, working closely with government-owned partner NNPC Ltd, Nigerian government agencies and local communities. 'Clean-up certificates were issued by the Nigerian regulator NOSDRA.' The High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled in 2017 and 2018, respectively, that there was no arguable case that Shell owed the claimants a duty of care, but the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that there was a 'real issue to be tried'.