Director, Swift Travel Consultancy Ltd
Malcolm Lindop
Top 3 Achievements
- Led Management Buy-Out at AC Tours, leading to fourfold income growth over following 3-year period
- Established Dubai, Hong Kong & Orlando in-market purchasing structures/teams at Jac, with resulting accelerated regional growth.
- Created New Concept Travel based in Hong Kong delivering high volume group business globally from SE Asian markets
About Malcolm Lindop
Malcolm is a CEO, entrepreneur, B2B business owner & specialist in product acquisition, negotiation and international purchasing – he also has proven director/NED experience across fast-paced travel industry environments and his commercial knowledge is matched only by his international outlook and global contact list. Prior to Swift Travel Consultancy and his current engagements, he led the purchasing division of Jac Travel and UK/Ireland contracting for Tracoin, expanding both team & the contracted hotel base to record highs, and creating growth opportunities for the wider business as a result. Malcolm’s early career was spent at Gulliver’s Travel Associates (GTA) where he spent 9 years building a formidable reputation as a senior buyer in London, UK & Europe. Malcolm has a remarkable depth of knowledge of Middle Eastern, Asian &US markets, and was instrumental in the opening of company offices in such diverse global hotspots as Hong Kong, Dubai, Orlando& London.
Malcolm lives in North London with his family & is an avid Arsenal fan.
Co-owner with Bernard Bialylew. NCT is a start-up B2B wholesale tour operator based in Hong Kong dealing with SE Asia markets. Staff now number 15 with regional sales now expanded beyond Hong Kong to Taipei, Beijing, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manilla
- 2020 – European HQ opened in London
- 2019 – first year turnover of £4.5m
- 2018 – formed New Concept Travel in Hong Kong with initial 8 staff
Joint CEO
2017 – completed purchase of French Travel Partners
2017 – completed purchase of MW Tours
2016 – full restructure of company to create new brands – AC Tours (groups), AC Luxe (offline FIT and MICE), AC Online (accommodation only online FIT)
2016 – launched New York, Dubai and all major European cities as directly contracted destinations
2015 – with Rob Russell conducted management buyout of previous owners
During this period AC Tours expanded from an annual turnover of £8m to £30m in 2019. The company has moved from being a traditional UK inbound tour operator to an international fast-growing and dynamic business with a diverse business structure. Number of employees rose from 8 to 95, including 10 based in Paris and 3 in USA.
JacTravel
- Purchasing strategy for the company, with an annual turnover in excess of £130m
- Management of a team of 40+ Contracts Managers, 10 Contract Coordinators and global purchasing office teams.
- Overall responsibility for a total of 13,000+ hotel contracts in over 50 countries.
- Direct contracting for major international hotel chains
Achievements:
I expanded the company from the traditional base in UK and key European cities to new worldwide destinations, increasing production and turnover from £8m – £130m (£200m+ with TSG) in the space of 10 years. I progressed from managing a team of 2 in 2005 to a team of 50+ in 2015.
- 2015 – opened purchasing office in Orlando and assembled US-based contracting team
- 2015 – moved Hong Kong operation from serviced offices for 3 pax to conventionalrented own space for 20 pax office in high profile location
- 2014 – movedOpened wholly-owned Dubaiofficeoperation from serviced offices to conventional officein prestigious location
- 2012 – established purchasing team for Asia in Hong Kong. Grew from 3 FTEs to 7 in 3 years
- 2012 – managed all purchasing negotiations for summer Olympics London 2012 for teams (incl US basketball team), national Olympics associations, corporates and sponsors
- 2011 – assumed full global purchasing responsibility
- 2010 – created new purchasing team for Groups
- 2009 – opened JacTravel local office in UAE, launched Egypt as a new destination and assumed responsibility for all contracting in Asia
- 2008 – launched South Africa as a new destination
- 2007 – launched UAE as a new destination
- 2005/6 – added an additional 300 contracts in UK and launched Ireland as a new destination
Tracoin Services Ltd
Contracts Manager, UK and Ireland
Sole responsibility for direction of UK and Ireland products for use in high volume group programmes for owned tour operators – Trafalgar Tours, Insight Vacations, Grand European Tours and Contiki Holidays.
Gulliver’s Travel Associates
1998 – 2003 Contracts Manager, UK and Ireland
- Overall direct purchasing responsibility for properties in UK and Ireland, ensuring demand fulfilled for rapid growth in group business from all markets, plus huge expansion in FIT production from high yielding accommodation links, including Ryanair and easyJet.
1997 Group Reservations Supervisor, France/Benelux
- Duties included pre-buying group space for France ’98 World Cup and facilitating unprecedented growth in group production from Asian markets
1994 – 1996 FIT Reservations Exec, Benelux
NED work
2013-14 – acted as advisor to owners of Simply Chateau (now Olivers Travels) www.oliverstravels.com
Consultancy experience
2020 – consultant for Travel Curious https://travelcurious.com/#!/