Travel agent Katrina Trotter aims to seal the deal with more passengers

A Borders-based high-end travel specialist focused on Latin America 'and beyond' is targeting revenue of £1 million over the next couple of years, and hopes to triple the number of passengers she works with within the next five to ten years.

Katrina Trotter says her most popular destinations currently include Galapagos, Patagonia and Peru.

Mordington-based Katrina Trotter Travel was launched in 2014 by its eponymous founder who had previously worked in the travel industry in London.

After moving north of the border, she decided to set up on her own, harnessing her specialist knowledge of South America. “I realised straightaway that there was actually huge potential in Scotland,” she said, with a big market for luxury travel, relatively little competition in her space “and being a specialist in a region where there aren’t very many”.

Popular destinations currently include Galapagos, Patagonia and Peru, and on the back of client demand she has been extending her remit to locations such as Oman. “There’s lots of potential,” Trotter said of her global growth plans, with Asia a possibility (she grew up in Hong Kong and is half-Spanish). She said she would consider joining another company if she could maintain her specialist niche and personalised service.

Growth has been “steady”, and this year she has arranged trips for 100 passengers, up from about 70 in 2017. As for her £1 million revenue target, this would come from 200 passengers.