Why Personal Service Still Wins

Booking a flight or a hotel online takes minutes, yet demand for personal, face-to-face travel advice keeps growing rather than shrinking. This conversation covers how one family-run agency built its reputation on trust and financial protection, why cruises now make up almost 40% of its business, the hard conversations behind a family business succession, and how the team kept the doors open through COVID and beyond. Joining Larissa is Emma McHugh, Managing Director of Atlantic Travel, one of Ireland's leading independent travel agencies based in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. Emma took over the family business from her father and aunt nine years ago and has since been named TTG Manager of the Year for Ireland and the UK, with Atlantic Travel twice named Worldchoice Cruise Agent of the Year. THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT Building trust in a market flooded with online options The financial protection built into every bonded holiday booking How Atlantic Travel became specialists in cruise holidays Taking over the family business and navigating COVID Why low deposits and word of mouth drive bookings GUEST DETAILS Emma McHugh is Managing Director of Atlantic Travel, one of Ireland's leading independent travel agencies, based in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. She took over the family business from her father and aunt nine years ago, having previously worked as cabin crew and in beauty industry management. Emma has received numerous prestigious accolades, including TTG Manager of the Year for Ireland and the UK, and TTG Top Agency in Ireland for two consecutive years, an achievement made even more significant as it spanned the COVID-19 period. Atlantic Travel has also been recognised by the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) and the Irish Travel Industry Awards (ITIA) as Top Travel Agent in Ireland, and was named Worldchoice Cruise Agent of the Year for two consecutive years, in 2024 and 2025. Emma has served as both a Board Member and Treasurer of the ITAA. Website: www.atlantictravel.ie Social Media: Instagram @atlantictrvl | Facebook: Atlantic Travel Letterkenny ABOUT KINORE Kinore is an award winning and innovative online Chartered Accountancy service that takes away the worry and headache of running your own finance and related business services functions. https://kinore.com/ ABOUT YOUR HOST The host of this podcast is Larissa Feeney, CEO and Founder of Kinore, an award-winning online accountancy and business services firm based in Ireland. Larissa's journey is notable, starting in hospitality before transitioning to accounting, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Driven by a vision to challenge traditional accountancy and leverage technology, Larissa founded Kinore in 2015, establishing Ireland's first online, remote-first Finance and Business Services company. Under her leadership, Kinore has received numerous accolades, and Larissa herself has been recognised with awards like 'Accountant of the Year'.