Sales of Thomson Holidays through independents were up last month, despite problems with call handling times at its agent support call centre.
The rise comes just over a year after Thomson cut commission, which led to a fall in third-party bookings.
Sales director Derek Jones said: “We’ve got a lot of good relationships with agents on 10% commission. We’re seeing better volumes from them year on year.”
But he admitted the new Coventry service centre, relocated from Glasgow, was still “bedding in” new staff.
Meanwhile, both Thomson and Thomas Cook’s retail divisions enjoyed increasing high-street footfall last month.
Thomas Cook group chief executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa said: “We saw an increase for the first three weeks of January – the first in 13 months.”