A high street agency is on the lookout for extra staff within weeks of opening – a year ahead of schedule.
Travel Safe Horbury in West Yorkshire took more than £30,000 worth of bookings on its opening day earlier this month.
Since then, owner Sophie Davis said the branch has continued to be flooded with bookings.
More: New travel agency to open as part of Travel Safe group
“I thought we’d just potter along but it’s been crazy and these are not little enquiries. We’ve had families booking holidays to Thailand,” said Davis.
She added: “A couple came in the other day asking for £2,500 flights to South Africa, and walked out with a £30,000 cruise. We gave them a glass of champagne and they’ve been in every day this week to see us.”
Davis said she has been forced to rope in her partner Brett Gerrett, managing director of homeworking group Travel Safe, of which the agency is a member, to help take bookings.
She said: “We’ve always worked together and we bounce ideas off each other but this has opened his eyes to how hard it is as an agent!”
Davis said she now planned to recruit two staff in the coming months to keep on top of bookings and help free up time for her to work on marketing plans with suppliers and media promotions.
“I was thinking I would be looking for staff this time next year,” admitted Davis, who said she hoped to find someone who could “hit the ground running”.
She said it was important agents who had left the industry or moved to other sectors such as homeworking were made aware that consumers were keen to book again with travel agents face-to-face.
“People see the value of what we are doing as agents; they want to sit in front of someone and speak to them to book a holiday rather than everything being on email. So for people thinking about coming back to travel on the high street, the message is that it’s worth doing,” she said.
More: New travel agency to open as part of Travel Safe group