Travel chief more than capable of holding a place on the board

IT'S just a day after surgery to correct the vision in his left eye, but Bill Munro is already back at Barrhead Travel's head office in Glasgow.

We sit down in the same room where, just a few minutes earlier, Munro finished off a meeting with the sales team. He apologises before donning a pair of black-out shades worthy of any A-list celebrity, explaining that the overhead fluorescent lights are too much of a strain on his eyes. Were it not for his suit and tie, he'd look ready for a day of the sailing or skiing that he enjoys when not at work.

So far, there is nothing to suggest that the 66-year-old is anything less than totally committed to the travel company that he set up as a single shop in Renfrewshire in 1975. His opening gambit is therefore a bit disconcerting, centred as it is on the notion that he is "not a necessary part of the team".

"What do I do? I am called the chairman now, but I hope they put me out to grass soon," he says, but quickly adds: "No, not really - I need a reason to get up in the morning."

He goes on to describe his routine working day - arrive around 10:30am, depart at six or so in the evening - and his role as the "sounding block" and "devil's advocate" on the team now headed by daughter Sharon. He says he considers himself lucky that the chief executive and her senior managers "put up with me".

"I think as long as I can contribute, I would want to be here," Munro says. "I just have to be careful that they are not just being nice to me, and that I can actually provide something useful."

We spend 90 minutes discussing what seems to be every aspect of the travel industry, putting paid to the notion that Munro might be losing his edge.

Although he sold a majority of the business more than three years ago to a management buy-out team led by Sharon, the elder Munro still owns 25 per cent of Barrhead Travel. It's obvious he keeps fully abreast of goings-on at the company, as well as developments across the industry.

The tourism sector is experiencing a recovery, he says, tentative though it may be. This has been reflected in Barrhead's growth, with both turnover and profits up last year. The company is also adding to its 487 staff as it invests in additional shops and an even stronger internet presence.

However, Munro says there is a divide along the latitude that runs through Newcastle, with travel operators to the north of that line currently getting an average of 100 less per person for each holiday they sell. "Scotland certainly seems to still be in recession," he says. As the country's largest independent travel company, Barrhead must contend with this fact of life.Industry regulation is another inescapable reality, but on this front, Munro is campaigning hard against UK government regulatory reforms he says are not going far enough to protect consumers.

Though the coalition government is taking steps to overhaul the Air Travel Organiser's Licensing (Atol) scheme, Munro points out that consumers still widely and wrongly believe that any holiday they purchase from a seller bearing the ABTA symbol is financially protected in case of natural disaster or a tour operator going bust. The confusion further extends to other loopholes such as the practice of split invoicing, which internet-only operators use extensively to avoid VAT, as well as compensation payments to stranded passengers.

"It is as much the confusion as it is the rules," Munro says. "If it was clear that the ABTA symbol does not offer financial protection, then that would be another thing."

He started the business 20 years before the arrival of the internet, which now accounts for 45 per cent of all of Barrhead's sales. Munro says he didn't know "the first thing" about travel, but saw an opportunity when he couldn't find an agent which was open late to book his own holiday.

The industry has changed tremendously since then, as has Munro's role within Barrhead.

"In the early days, if you sold a few holidays, you could go home and have your tea," he says. "You had succeeded.

"When you are at this other level, you can't always remember what it is that you have spent all day doing. You don't always get the same level of personal accomplishment and day-to-day satisfaction."

Even so, Munro seems prepared to keep his hand in for a while yet, even while insisting that business leaders who hang on for too long are just "being silly".

"You have got to pass it on to the next generation," he says.

"They will make mistakes, but they also have plenty of ability.

"To keep going forever would just be crazy - I would be holding them back, and I would be holding the business back."