GLASGOW, UK (April 14, 2025) – Barrhead Travel’s Newtownabbey branch is celebrating sales success after hitting their full year’s target within the first three months of 2025 trading.

After opening its doors in November 2024, the Newtownabbey branch has gone from strength to strength with demand for holidays continuing to surge in Northern Ireland. The store was set ambitious targets for 2025, mirroring high consumer appetite for leisure travel, but the team have since exceeded all initial expectations.

Locally, the store is reporting 77 percent of bookings are due to travel in 2025 with destinations such as Tenerife, Mallorca, Benidorm, Egypt and Turkey trending as the area’s top spots. Cruise is also amongst the most requested holiday type for Newtownabbey customers, particularly Caribbean cruising with the addition of a Belfast to Barbados charter.

The Newtownabbey store is Barrhead Travel’s second retail location in Northern Ireland following the opening of its Belfast store in 2017. In addition, it also has a call centre location in Coleraine. The group has indicated its interest in further expanding its footprint in the region as part of its wider retail growth ambitions.

Lisa Hamill, Barrhead Travel’s Regional Sales Manager in Northern Ireland, said:

“I’m incredibly proud of our Newtownabbey team who have made a real splash in their local community since opening the store. Local holidaymakers want to book with a trusted travel agent and we’re seeing lots of new customers flocking to our team to consult with experts.

“The level of success we’ve seen with Newtownabbey is down to our amazing people who are genuinely passionate about providing exceptional service to their clients. It’s clear that holidays are being prioritised this year and we’re focusing on making sure we’re providing inspiring options at best value-for-money prices.

To support customer demand, Barrhead Travel Newtownabbey is currently recruiting for a full-time travel consultant to join their team. For more information about the role, visit careers.barrheadtravel.co.uk or email recruitment@barrheadtravel.co.uk

About Barrhead Travel      

Since it was founded in 1975, Barrhead Travel has expanded from a traditional ‘bucket and spade’  travel agent to a multi-faceted travel group offering bespoke holidays and cruises to all corners of the globe.

In addition to its retail network which spans over 90 locations across the UK, the group has a number of specialist divisions including Touring & Adventure, cruise and USA.

With a focus on people development, it operates its own in-house Training Academy which provides comprehensive training programmes for its colleagues. The group is an advocate for youth employment and operates its own Modern Apprenticeship programme.

The company has won many awards over the years, the most recent including Best Travel Agency in Scotland for 23 years running and Best UK Cruise Retail Agent. For the last two years, it has also been named as one of the Best Companies to work for.

Barrhead Travel sits within the leisure division of Internova Travel Group.