Pictured: Fraser McCallum (centre) with, from left: Julie McCallum, Rebecca Maxwell, Sharon McDade and Scott McLure.
Staff at Frasers Travel invited customers to join them for a two-day celebration of the Scottish agency’s 34th anniversary recently.
The Saltcoats agency was founded in 1986 by Fraser McCallum, who has 55 years of experience in the industry.
He was joined in the business by his wife Julie in 1990, after meeting her on a travel agents’ course in South Africa.
Julie said the birthday celebrations have become an annual event over recent years and generate good PR for Frasers Travel as well as being a way to thank customers.
“We had a great weekend celebrating our 34th birthday,” she said.
“When we send out Christmas cards to our regulars and high-end customers, we enclose a note about our ‘Birthday Weekend’.”
She said customers who pop in for drinks and nibbles often also make bookings, commenting: “They all look forward to our event, sometimes holding back to book that weekend.
“We had special offers in conjunction with Jet2holidays and gave out party bags enclosing special freebies such as free airport car parking or two-for-one offers on lounge passes.”
Fraser has sold holidays to hundreds of customers over the years, and is now selling holidays to the grandchildren of some of his original clients.
He particularly remembers a former prisoner of war in his 80s who wanted to return to the remote island in Malaysia where he had been held captive in the Second World War.
“The flights were easy enough but I had to get a bed for him in a hut and get a transfer over to the island because it was basically uninhabited,” recalled Fraser.