A Blue Bay Travel agent is celebrating after securing £207,000 of MSC Cruises bookings in five months.
Lynne Walton, an agent with Blue Bay’s homeworking arm The Personal Travel Consultants, made 54 bookings with the line between February and June this year, accounting for 87% of all sales of MSC Cruises products by the agency in that period.
Walton has more than 35 years of experience in the industry, but took a two-year break for personal reasons in February 2020, before joining The Personal Travel Consultants in October, 2021.
More: Blue Bay Travel tech recruit aims to expand agency sales
She was formerly a homeworker with Vertical Travel Group, Future Travel, and Instant Holidays, prior to which she worked for Thomas Cook on the high street in Middlesbrough.
Walton said: “I am so happy to be back working in travel and couldn’t have found a more supportive homeworking brand to partner with.
“Most of my customers are families booking luxury, land-based holidays in Europe, but they were convinced to try cruising for the first time when I showed them what fantastic value for money the MSC cruises were offering, compared with a traditional Mediterranean resort holiday.
“They were attracted by the free kids places up to age 17 and also the prospect of departing from Southampton, thus avoiding any potential airport queues or flight delays.
“Once I had booked a couple of customers on MSC sailings, they started referring me to their friends and it snowballed from there. I even had one family call me on the day they returned from a three-night May half-term cruise on MSC Virtuosa and book another 12-night sailing with me on the same ship for August.”
Steve Williams, director of sales for MSC Cruises, said: “We would like to thank Lynne for her outstanding support, especially during these challenging times in travel.
“Her passion for MSC has certainly been demonstrated with the huge volume of bookings she has confirmed.”
Abbie Heaton, sales manager for The Personal Travel Consultants in Partnership with Blue Bay Travel, added: “We were so pleased to have Lynne join us at the end of last year – she’s exactly the calibre of homeworker we’re looking for and she’s got off to an amazing start.”