Travel Counsellors achieved a global sales total of £10.8 million over four days in January, accounting for some of its best days on record.
The company achieved its best sales day in its 20 year history on Friday January 16, with global sales of £2.82 million.
Overall UK sales for January were up 7% on the previous year, reaching more than £40 million for the month.
Sales director Malcolm Hingley said that UK TCs (Travel Counsellors) had earned an average of £3,500 in January as a result of the upturn, an increase of 12% in their income.
“There are several reasons why we’ve had such a good month”, he told Travel Weekly.
“We did a lot of work on training in December, put emphasis on using our ‘Quote and Book’ system within Phenix and made ourselves more visible to our TCs to support them.”
A worldwide sales incentive sponsored by Royal Caribbean was launched in January, with over 1,350 Travel Counsellors participating to win a seven night Caribbean cruise.
“We also adapted our marketing so that it was not offer led but inspiration led, focusing on how a customer wants to feel on holiday through,” Hingley added.
He said that the company was optimistic for the rest of the year, but questioned whether this would be reflected across the industry.
Managing director Steve Byrne said: “Throughout what is traditionally a busy booking period for the industry we have been dedicated to supporting our agents and helping them to drive sales and reach out to their customers.”
Lincoln based Travel Counsellor Helen Wheatley said her sales were up 150% on last January and that she had achieved an average margin of over 16%.
“Customers seem much more confident in booking again and are definitely planning ahead”, she added.
Corporate travel sales also grew in the year, up 9% in January compared to the previous year, with 24 of the company’s Business Travel Counsellors producing over 100k in sales for the month.
Sub-brand Travel Counsellors for Business was launched in September last year.