JN Money Services Adds Travel to Services in UK
In a strategic move to expand its services and respond to changing client needs in the United Kingdom, JN Money Services Limited (JNMS), through its UK subsidiary, JN Overseas UK Limited, has entered into a partnership with the well-known, Birmingham-based Diamond Travel to add a travel service component to its suite of products and services in that market.
The travel service, which was initially introduced in three JNMS Branches in the UK last summer with positive results, is now being rolled out across the company’s ten full-service branches in England, allowing more customers to access air travel booking while transacting other business.
“This is a new sphere of business for us,” Leesa Kow, General Manager at JNMS, said, “However, our research indicates that many of our clients are frequent travellers, and they also arrange visits for their family members, hence it becomes a natural link.” She also noted that UK residents can book flights for themselves, for persons in Jamaica to travel to and from the UK, as well as to other destinations outside of the UK and Jamaica.
Local arrival statistics reveal that there were 184,355 stopover visitors to Jamaica from the United Kingdom last year, with several of them falling into the category of visiting friends and relatives (VFRs).
And, the industry sources in the UK and Jamaica indicate that travel agents are gearing themselves for a higher record of movement of tourists and VFRs between the two countries, with the double attractions of – the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Jamaican Independence, locally; and the Olympic Games, to be held in London, in August 2012.
Miss Kow also pointed to the fact that the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS), the parent company of JNMS, currently offers a vacation product, which invites persons locally and overseas to save for their ‘Jamaican Vacation.’ The product is endorsed by the Jamaica Tourist Board, and offers savers a range of discounts on accommodation, car rentals, attractions and restaurants.
“Our partnership with Diamond Travel is designed to take advantage of the projected increase in travel trends,” Miss Kow stated, “And, given Diamond’s more than two decades of service in the UK, we anticipate that this joint-venture has the potential to yield positive results for both companies.” Diamond Travel, owned and operated by Jamaican-born Beverley Lindsay, one of the Caribbean’s most recognised entrepreneurs in the UK, is one of Birmingham’s leading independent Travel Agents, and forms part of the Elite Travel Group, a consortium of quality independent Travel Agents.
Established in 1987, Diamond Travel is one of Birmingham’s leading independent travel agents. It is a fully bonded agency, IATA, ABTA and ATOL. Over the years the agency has been able to develop expertise and experience in a number of specialist areas, giving it the advantage of being able to offer both repeat and new customers the benefit of informed advice and specialist knowledge.
Mrs. Lindsay, who received the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), last June, and is active in her community, said Diamond Travel strives for quality service; hence its compatibility with the JN subsidiary. “We, therefore, welcome the alliance with JN Money Transfer, which doubles our visibility and presence in the marketplace,”said Mrs. Lindsay, who was also conferred with the Officer of the Order of Distinction (OD) by the His Excellency the Governor General of Jamaica, Professor Kenneth Hall in 2008.
Accessing the services of Diamond Travel is easy for JN Money Transfer customers in the UK, Miss Kow said, “All a customer needs to do is ask the Teller for a booking form, which they complete and return to the Teller, who will enter the Diamond Travel database to provide the necessary travel information. The customer then makes the payment and an airline ticket and travel itinerary is issued.”
The JNMS General Manager indicated that there was “increasing need for more convenient cross-border business services in Diaspora communities; and, therefore, a partnership of this nature will help us to meet some of those needs, and drive the growth of our business.”