TTAND Members Learn More About What Equity Partner Travel Counsellors Brings to the Table

There was a buzz in the room as Kirsten Hughes, Chief Commercial Officer for Travel Counsellors, took to the stage at The Travel Agent Next Door’s 2026 conference to speak to members for the first time since the UK-based company entered an ‘equity partnership’ with Canada’s largest host agency four months ago.

While the British press referred to the deal between the two large host agencies as an “acquisition,” TTAND Founder & CEO Flemming Friisdahl has insisted on ‘equity partnership’ as a more accurate description of the transaction.

Judging from Hughes’ presentation, he’s not wrong. An acquisition usually involves one company purchasing another to take full control, while an equity partnership is more of a joint venture, where one party buys a percentage of a business then shares profits and management.

We’ll get into more about that, but first a bit of context.

Travel Counsellors is an international travel franchise founded by David Speakman in 1994. His vision for home-based travel consultants presaged a revolutionary change in the industry, and the company has grown into a technology-forward organization with more than 2,200 travel advisors in several countries. Travel Counsellors boasts annual sales of about $1.8 billion – about three times TTAND’s current volume.

Speakman was inspired by Faith Popcorn, a futurist and author who prophesied around 1990 that consumers would increasingly do much of their purchasing from home. At a time when vertically integrated travel corporations like Thomas Cook and AirTours dominated the UK market, Speakman thought that travel sellers could also work from home rather than high street brick-and-mortar locations.

“People thought he was bonkers,” Hughes told the TTAND audience. “He couldn’t afford to pay agents, so he had to pay commission,” she added. The company slowly took off, expanding to Ireland and the Netherlands in 2005, South Africa, Canada and the U.S. in 2007. 

The financial crisis of 2008 hampered growth in North America, as did the Travel Counsellors model, which struggled to compete with Canada’s early host agencies.

“We were quite arrogant about our model,” said Hughes, who has been with Travel Counsellors for more than three decades. “Nobody in Canada was going to accept a 60/40 commission split.”

That foray fizzled, but Travel Counsellors continued to expand in the UK and internationally, driven by a focus that aimed “to put technology into the pockets of travel advisors.”

In the early 2000s, the big UK-based tour operators were starting to cut out agents, so Travel Counsellors decided to invest in a booking platform designed for travel professionals. In 2006 Phenix was launched, initially as an accommodations-only engine. 

“Twenty years later, we invest $25 million dollars in Phenix every year,” Hughes said. In 2016, Travel Counsellors marked another tech milestone by launching the MyTC app, which was designed for consumers as a link to Travel Counsellors advisors.

By 2024, Travel Counsellors topped $1 billion pounds ($1.8 billion CAD) in annual sales. Current figure sales are around $1.2 billion pounds ($2.2 billion CAD.)

While the company has a strong tech focus, Hughes said the company’s massive investments in digital tools is about making the travel booking process easier for agents and their clients, and to expand the universe of products that can be sold.

“We’re a small business at heart,” she said. “We care about individual counsellors.”

TTAND founder Friisdahl says the relationship with Travel Counsellors developed through a desire to ensure that TTAND’s philosophy and operating model would outlast his tenure at the company. The untimely loss of his twin sister and a health scare of his own led him to focus on a future time when he would no longer lead TTAND.

“’What is the plan?, I asked myself. What is the future for those who left jobs to join us?”

Friisdahl began exploring options, and through a long period of ‘dating,’ decided a partnership with Travel Counsellors offered the best future solution.

“We’re like brothers from another mother,” he said. “Their philosophy is so mirrored to us.”

“Flemming wanted our technology,” Hughes said. “We have amazing technology, but our people are at the centre of everything we do. That’s our North Star. We have a very special business and you have a very special business and it’s lovely to bring them together.”

Hughes added: “Our business is personal. Our job is to make a travel counsellor’s life easier.” She added that over the past few months since the partnership, “We’ve left you alone. We are working very hard on the technology and our platform, to adapt it for you.”

As Hughes described the capabilities of Travel Counsellors’ tech tools, there were appreciative sounds from the more than 300 TTAND advisors in the audience. Especially regarding Phenix, which has developed into a robust engine that can create custom itineraries with as many as 75 components, from a vast collection of travel products. 

Using the myTC app, a Phenix itinerary can be sent directly to clients. Advisors can even see when customers are looking at it. As time passes before a customer makes a decision, Phenix can quickly update availability and pricing, and can easily be tweaked to traveller feedback.

“With our technology, processes that took hours now take minutes,” Hughes said. “That’s what we’re customizing for you. We want to take the best of what we do and the best of what you do, and bring them together.”

Travel Market Report Canada spoke with several TTAND members about their reaction when the Travel Counsellors deal was announced, and how they’re feeling now, after learning more from the presentation of Hughes and Senior Destination Manager Natalie Aspinall. Later in the conference, Travel Counsellors CEO Steve Byrne will arrive on Celebrity Silhouette to take questions from TTAND members.

“I was scared when I heard about it,” said Leslie MacPhee from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. “I was worried we were changing hands and wouldn’t have the same level of support. But I’m excited when I hear about technology like Phenix. It’s a game-changer. TTAND offers true support and Flemming has always been 100% clear in what he provides and what he expects. I hope that continues and so far, so good.”

Cathy Harnish, a long-time Nova Scotia-based TTAND member, agrees with MacPhee’s comments. “I didn’t worry when I heard the news. Flemming is not the person to make bad judgements. If he thought this deal was the best thing for TTAND and its members I believe him.”

Oshawa-based Bonnie Fowler, who came from a finance background to join TTAND three years ago, says she also respects Friisdahl’s judgement.

“I trust TTAND and Flemming to the nth degree. Any decision he makes will be in our best interest. When he talks about making sure we’re secure and in good hands he means it.”