Programme .. all talks start at 10.30am
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13th May 2024 Dr Andrew Dickson MBE Andrew was a Fellow of the Tourism Society and a Fellow of the Institute of Travel and Tourism. He has twice been Chairman of the Association of British Travel Agents in the North West, and was a champion of the independent travel sector on the main ABTA board for over 10 years. He was the Press Officer for ABTA in the North West. St. Andrews Travel was established in Bolton town centre in the small shopping precinct of St. Andrews Court, a converted church and Sunday school. The company grew from just Andrew in the one shop to 10 retail branches, a Cruise Club, a large Foreign Exchange Bureau and a thriving Business Travel Department. The turnover peaked at an annual £25m with 75 staff members and was one of the North West’s largest and most successful independent travel groups. Andrew and his company have won many awards including ‘Bolton Company of the Year’ in the Reebok Business Awards. Boltons Best Sales & Marketing Company and Andrew Dickson personally won ‘Bolton Business Person of the Year’. He was also awarded ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the Manchester Business Awards. Andrew has made regular appearances on television and radio, commenting on the industry and hosted a weekly programme called ‘Get Away’ on regional BBC radio stations throughout the UK. Andrew is a regular guest lecturer both in the UK and abroad at conferences on customer care and service delivery explaining how his company succeeded in a competitive market by putting the customer first and investing in the local community. In 2006 Andrew formed THE WOW FACTOR CONSULTANCY which works with other companies, large and small, both in the travel industry and outside, businesses and local charities, to help them create competitive advantage in their business by injecting pace, energy, fun and above all great customer service. He has worked with Travelbag, Blue Bay Travel, Sandals Resorts,Emerald and Scenic River Cruises helping their call centres improve customer service and sales. Andrew works with several charities and has personally raised several hundreds of thousands of pounds in the Greater Manchester area. He won a home office award for his campaigning to keep Bolton tidy … ‘Bin it for Bolton’ and was asked to be a guest speaker at 5 ENCAMS (Environmental Campaigns) conferences promoting why small businesses should become more involved in community actions to benefit themselves and the local environment and community. |