Barrhead: ‘Tech is key – but we won’t detract from the high street’
The introduction of new technology will not detract from Barrhead Travel’s ongoing investment in the high street, but will rather complement its retail growth plans
This was the message from the Scottish agency group’s managing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell, who told Cruise Trade News the company will look to utilise training, experiences and new technologies to capitalise further on the burgeoning luxury and river cruise sectors in 2026, as well as improving its expedition cruise offering.
Tempest-Mitchell is acutely aware of the opportunities these growing sectors present the company in 2026. “Cruise has always been important for us,” she said.
“A couple of years ago we acknowledged that there was a huge opportunity with these sectors. We could see growth in river cruising because there was a lot more ships coming into the market, and it was under-indexed in our business.”
Barrhead implemented a holistic training and marketing plan with its cruise line partners to help agents make the most of these opportunities, as well consumer-facing events tailored to the luxury market.
In 2026, the firm will charter its first river cruise and continue to host agent training initiatives so members can stay abreast of the deployments across the sectors.
Key to driving Barrhead’s cruise business further, Tempest-Mitchell added, lies in addressing consumer misconceptions about the size of ships and overcrowding onboard.
“There are still customers who raise concerns about the number of people onboard, so it’s important for us to implement effective training programmes for agents so they can confidently dispel these myths,” she said.
Next year the agency will also look to enhance its expedition cruise offering. “It’s still a very small part of our business,” Tempest-Mitchell admitted.
“There’s definitely an opportunity for us there. We have actively upskilled our people on this, but we’ve done it with small numbers, so we’ve got an opportunity to grow that even further.”
During the event’s conference sessions, which took place on Monday (29 September), Tempest-Mithcell highlighted Barrhead’s £300,000 investment in upgrading its high street stores, and also announced plans to launch an app at the start of 2026 following the company’s long-anticipated rebrand in December.
Balancing high-street expansion and tech innovation, Tempest-Mitchell said, is critical to the company’s ongoing growth.
We want to constantly up-skill our people, make them more confident, and give them the tools to expand on what they’re already brilliant at
“We’re very clear that we want to remove any pain points for our people with the use of technology, to free them up to allow them to have longer, better quality conversations with their customers,” she said.
“But we will never detract away from that human touch. We want to constantly up-skill our people, make them more confident, and give them the tools to expand on what they’re already brilliant at.”
Meanwhile, Linda Pyle, director of Barrhead Travel’s managed services and homeworking arm Brilliant Travel, praised the membership’s network of cruise specialists for helping boost other sellers’ knowledge of the industry.
“We’ve got a really nice mix of members,” she said. “Agencies like The Cruise Room have expanded exponentially over the last few years, and they are now in a position to help support our other members who are looking to grow.”
