Strictly Business: Sandra Corkin, Oasis Travel

I got into travel… at a young age. I hated school, so on my 16th birthday I left for a job in a local travel agency and absolutely loved it.

I started my business… when I was 21. My dad, a local businessman, encouraged me to set up my own agency. With his financial backing we opened Oasis Travel in my hometown, Lisburn in Northern Ireland, in 1984.

When we opened, travel agents were busy all the time because people had to come to us for everything – they had no internet. We were the first agency in town to not close at lunchtime or on Saturdays and the first without high counters; we had low tables, chairs and a coffee machine.

My dad said that if you’re going to run a successful business, do things differently. He died when I was 26 – at that time, I did not know a thing [about business]. He was doing the salaries, the tax returns – I just knew how to sell a holiday.

The first thing I did was change my accountant to somebody who could talk to me in my language. It was like going back to school.

I have grown the business… almost always through acquisition of other travel agencies. The latest, Traveller’s Secret, happened during the pandemic. Over the past couple of months we have taken on six new staff without industry experience and are putting together an intensive training programme.

The area of the business growing the most is… cruise. Pre-pandemic cruising accounted for just over 30% of our business and it’s now up towards 40%. We have also seen an increase in quality holidays.

We have seven offices and five people who work under our ‘Portfolio’ arm. Portfolio staff work in private offices by appointment, offering a personalised service to luxury travellers. We have seen great growth in their sales.

The suppliers we have the strongest relationships with include… Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean, who were very supportive during the pandemic. We’re members of Aito and recently picked up a top sales award from Exsus Travel. We’re also in the Azure Ambassadors Club, which helped us run more than 100 virtual customer events during the pandemic.

My proudest career achievement is… winning Best Independent Agent in the UK at the Silver Globe Awards in 1991. It was just a couple of years after my dad died, and it was such a shock to be there and to be recognised in that way.

Sometimes you think you need to have all these skills and experience to run a business, but all we did was work hard and look after people.