Hugh Boyle
Scot of the Year 2006
Hugh Boyle is the chair and principal shareholder of Zoom Airlines and the founder and chair of the resoundingly successful Go Travel Direct, Canada's first direct-sell tour operator. Both businesses have grown rapidly in the six years since inception. Go Travel Direct offers Canadians the opportunity to take a break from frigid temperatures during the winter months and fly to a multitude of southern destinations while Zoom Airlines offers exceptional low rates to Europe from a host of Canadian locations.
Hugh Boyle
Originally from Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Hugh grew up in a traditional middle class family where his father was a local grocer and his mother worked at home. Hugh attended St. Saviour's High School and then went on to Motherwell College where he trained as a chef. After graduation, he gained lots of practical experience at the Royal Stewart Hotel in Glasgow then moved to Spain where he lived and worked for two years.
Moving to London in his early 20's, Hugh landed a lucrative position as private chef to wealthy industrialist Maxwell Joseph. Soon this gave Hugh too much on his hands and being a man with endless ideas and a lot of energy he needed to move on. At the same time, his brother John had recently started a travel company and was in desperate need of assistance, so a partnership was formed that lead them both to become the successful and wealthy entrepreneurs they are today.
In the 1980s the Boyle brothers founded Falcon Holidays --ultimately sold at a large profit to a major UK operator. Their next venture, Direct Holidays, founded in 1991, gained strength and market share in Scotland becoming a household name with travelers wishing to venture across the border. In 1997 My Travel P.L.C. purchased it in order to access the Boyles' highly successful business model. The sale of this venture enabled Hugh to retire a very wealthy man, while still in his 40s.
During his rise to success, Hugh had found himself with little or no time to spend with his wife Christine and their two children. It was then that, as a family, they decided to make a lifestyle change and move to Ottawa in Canada. Both Christine's brother and sister were already well established in that city so the decision was an easy one to make.
Once in Canada, retirement was not in the cards for Hugh and his entrepreneurial spirit prevailed. After traveling back and forth to Scotland and other destinations, he realized that Canada had a niche waiting to be filled. Difficulty in quickly getting flights and a desire to have more of a hands-on ability when booking vacations led Boyle to bring his tried and true travel model to Canada by founding Go Travel Direct. Even so, the frustration of having to deal with airlines that didn't accept his reduced rates built up until Hugh took the matter into his own hands and founded his own airline - Zoom Airlines was born!
Canada has become home for Hugh and his family. His daughter has moved on to University in Montreal and his younger child will probably follow. Although he has adjusted to the Canadian way of life, he still considers himself a Scot through and through.
Hugh became "Scot of the Year 2006" at the Scottish Studies Society's Tartan Day Dinner at Casa Loma in Toronto on 6th April 2006.
For more information, please contact David Hunter
by telephone at 416-699-9942 or by e-mail at:
