Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year, Oasis Travel, announced its acquisition of leading County Down travel agent group, Milliken Travel…
Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year, Oasis Travel, announced its acquisition of leading County Down travel agent group, Milliken Travel.
Adding branches in Bangor, Holywood and Dundonald to those already established in Lisburn and Hillsborough, brings the number of Oasis offices to six and firmly cements the company’s position as Northern Ireland’s largest independent travel agent.
Sandra Corkin, Managing Director and founder of Oasis Travel, believes that the takeover is a natural progression for the agency.
“We already have three highly successful branches in the greater Lisburn area and have been on the look out for the right opportunity to expand for quite a while. This acquisition has given us the chance to move into North Down and take over the operations of an already extremely reputable agent which itself has been going for some 24 years,” said Sandra.
“Milliken Travel as a company and its staff have a lot in common with us. We share the same ethos of customer care and carry out our business in much the same way, and the fact that all members of staff will be retained should ensure that the transition is a smooth one.
“They’re also previous winners of the Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year award so we have that in common too!,” she added.
“We’re still in the process of familiarising Milliken’s regular customers with information about the takeover. Our main priority is to assure customers that they will continue to receive the best possible customer care from Oasis Travel – just as they did with Milliken’s.”
The takeover has involved the installation of a new computer system into all the offices and a gradual refurbishment is underway to align the new branches with Oasis Travel’s trademark navy and silver colour scheme.
Oasis Travel, now with 35 full time staff, has enjoyed steady growth since opening its first branch in Railway Street, Lisburn, in 1984. A second Lisburn office opened in Longstone Street in 1986, and a third in Dromore in 1992, which was later transferred to Moira in 1998. 1998 also saw the opening of a fourth branch in Hillsborough.
As part of the company’s ongoing expansion, its flagship store in Railway Street is set for a big change in 2005 when operations will relocate to state-of-the-art new premises which are currently under renovation and due for completion next summer.
Oasis Travel was voted Northern Ireland Travel Agent of the Year for the fourth time at the recent Northern Ireland Travel Awards and remains the only agency to have won this prestigious award more than once.
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