Northern Ireland agency chain Oasis Travel has acquired Travellers Secrets, a high street agency in Warrenpoint, County Down.
The owner of Travellers Secrets, Sue Goodwin, has run the business for 25 years and is retiring to travel the world.
The branch will become the seventh outlet for Oasis Travel, which also has stores in Bangor, Holywood, Lisburn and three in Belfast.
Sandra Corkin, managing director of Oasis Travel, said: “We are really excited about this, it is a good opportunity.
“It’s near the border, halfway between Belfast and Dublin, and is the only travel agency in the town.
“It has been there a long time and has really loyal customers and a good database.
“It’s very encouraging to see how busy it is. They have come out of the pandemic strongly.”
She said the existing staff will be taken on and the first priority is to focus on the interior décor to align it with the other stores in Oasis Travel.
The other six branches have been trading at about 90% of pre-pandemic levels in February and March – with staff members also at about 90% of pre-Covid numbers, she added.
“We have seen a really good start to April, it’s very positive – it’s busy and still takes a lot more time to take bookings as there are lots of questions about Covid,” she said.
“But dropping the PLF [Passenger Locator Form] and tests has been a game-changer.”
Pictured from left: Wendy Corkin (company accountant), Jo Ryan, Sandra Corkin, Eleanor McGivern and Scott McCabe (projects manager).