‘I’m optimistic travel will come back stronger’

Dame Irene Hays is chair of Hays Travel, an independent travel agency that she built up with her late husband John over many years.

I’ve always enjoyed adventure. Growing up in Northumberland, we’d go on family camping holidays in the UK. Aged 19, I went abroad for the first time to Spain’s Costa Brava, which gave me a real taste for travel. In 1980, I met John, who’d just opened a travel agency in County Durham at the back of his mother’s babywear shop. You had to weave your way through bottles and baby grows to get to the travel agency, which he’d separated from the shop with a garden trellis!

With the first shop thriving, we opened up two more locations. From there, three shops became six, then eight, and so on, and I left behind my career in the civil service to help run Hays Travel, which was a big moment.

Meanwhile, we expanded our Sunderland head office team. John and I were passionate about helping young people, and had always employed apprentices across all areas of the business. At one point, almost half of our senior team had started out as apprentices. I’ve never believed in hierarchy; I’ll happily pour the drinks at office parties!

Hays Travel soon became the UK’S largest independent travel agency, with more than 7,000 staff. When Thomas Cook collapsed in 2019, John and

I didn’t hesitate to step in by taking 555 of its branches, saving 2,000 jobs. The media referred to us as ‘high-street heroes’, and we received hundreds of letters of thanks at the time.

But everything changed in November 2020. We were working from home, but John needed to pop into the office to do some paperwork. He kissed me in the doorway before he left and we arranged to go for a walk along the seafront when he got back. But he never came home.

John died very suddenly when he collapsed in the office. He was 71. It was devastating. There was an outpouring of public support and that kept me going. On the day of John’s funeral, the streets of Sunderland were lined with people. They waved balloons and the council lit up monuments in blue and orange, our corporate colours. It didn’t feel

Going abroad for the first time at 19 gave me a real taste for travel

like a mournful occasion, more like a celebration of his life. He’d have loved it.

The pandemic has also been a huge challenge for Hays, and we’ve had to roll up our sleeves. We’ve had to make hard choices by letting some of our beloved employees go and closing some shops, but I’ve focused on remaining positive.

I miss John a lot and wish he’d been here to see me collect my Damehood for services to young people and apprentices in the New Year’s Honours List 2021. He’d have been so proud.

I’ll keep having adventures. This year, I’m hoping to do a seacation, cruising around the British Isles, and in 2022 I’ll go to the Amazon rainforest, which was a trip John and I had planned. I’ll do that one on my own, and when I’m there, I’ll raise a glass to John.

• Visit haystravel.co.uk for more information