Service above all

“A giant and a pioneer in shaping the future of the travel industry.” Linda Edwards, MD of XL Turners Travel, has a career that has spanned more than three decades. After returning to South Africa following overseas travel and a role at the South African Embassy in London, she decided to pursue a career in an industry she had always enjoyed as a traveller. She joined XL Turners Travel in 1992 as a junior consultant and steadily expanded her expertise across corporate travel before taking on leadership roles that led to her appointment as MD. Among the milestones that stand out is overseeing travel arrangements for around 12 000 delegates attending the International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, when ticketing was still entirely paper- based. Another pivotal moment came when a single client request introduced XL Turners Travel to the offshore oil and gas sector, which has since become one of the company’s specialist areas. Perhaps the achievement of which she is proudest, however, is steering the business through the pandemic without retrenching staff. “Our strength and creative skills at managing offshore travel assisted us greatly during this time and stood us in good stead with organising repatriation travel for our clients.” Edwards believes her greatest impact has been understanding clients’ needs and preferences, setting high service standards and building a culture of professionalism. “As travel managers, we must compete with travellers’ perceived belief that DIY bookings on the web are both easy and economical. To combat this, we have built very strong relationships with suppliers so we can compete on price while providing personal service that is second to none.” With the advent of AI, she thinks this is more important than ever. “There is no doubt that AI will change the way we do business, but as an industry we need to ensure that as travel managers, we remain at the forefront of corporate travel. With all the tech and AI, our team is still, by far, the most important part of our company.” Linda Edwards