GRAY Dawes Travel is spearheading a drive to attract more business in Wales and the southwest by opening up an office in Cardiff.
The office will service business travel accounts for companies in south Wales and the Gloucester area.
Tickets and documentation will be produced at the Cardiff office, while bookings will be processed at Gray Dawes’ national reservations centre in Colchester.
This, according to managing director Ray Hopkins, will enable Gray Dawes to keep staff numbers in Cardiff to a minimum and keep costs down for clients.
Hopkins said:”Local business people want a guarantee that their travel needs are being handled as professionally and as cost-effectively as possible. They also want to deal with a company that has made a commitment to their needs by creating a presence in the area.”
The new office will have the latest technology, including automated ticket boarding-pass printers to produce tickets directly at the premises.
Its management information system allows accurate reports of all travel to enable clients to monitor their expenditure.
The Cardiff office is Gray Dawes’ seventh UK office. The agency also has two in London and one each in Jersey, Hemel Hempsted, Colchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, Gray Dawes has appointed a new sales and marketing director to replace Melody Goodman who has decided to work part-time.
She is replaced by Spencer Smith, who joins from a logistics and distribution company.
Goodman was one of the original directors of Gray Dawes who, along with managing director Ray Hopkins, acquired the company in a management buyout in 1988.