A Welsh travel firm celebrating record results says the pandemic led to more people valuing travel agents and tour operators.
Wonky Sheep Travel and Events, which specialises in sports travel, as well as offering city breaks, holidays and business travel, claimed its highest revenue in 2022/23.
Director Dave Dulin said: “It sounds strange to say, but Covid has been good for us and now we’re looking to build on the past two years with a bigger push on our city breaks, holidays and business travel, while rugby is the next focus for sports travel.”
More: The new travel group forged out of the pandemic
Launched 10 years ago, Wonky Sheep has now enjoyed back-to-back years of record revenue.
Much of the most recent success was thanks to Wales reaching the World Cup in Qatar, but the previous year – coming out of the pandemic – gave Dulin even greater satisfaction.
He said: “That was the toughest year because travel was opening up and restrictions were changing all of the time.
“But it also showed the importance of travel agents and tour operators as that’s when people, particularly for our football trips, turned to us to make sure their travel went smoothly.
“We know we offer a good product but over the last two years we’ve had a lot of new people travel with us who have experienced that for the first time, largely because of the restrictions, and they are already coming back for more.”
The business had its 10th birthday last month and is planning to expand over the next couple of years with more products, services and partnerships.
“There’s no rush – we’ll do things at our own pace because it’s about getting it right,” said Dulin, whose business “started as a hobby” offering stag and hen dos.
Wonky Sheep’s new-look website is due to launch later this month.