Independent agency re-opens to capture surge in demand
Independent travel agent Travel The Globe is reopening its offices early to take advantage of a jump in demand for holiday bookings as England’s quarantine restrictions are being lifted.
Claire Milby and Lisa Barnes, who co-own the agency and have both been working from home throughout the lockdown, say they are now ready to re-open their offices again.
Travel The Globe reopened its newly-revamped offices in King Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, on June 29 and will now reopen its Barrow office in Stollers Furniture World on Saturday (July 4) and on Sunday.
Because of demand Travel The Globe will also open its Barrow office every Sunday throughout July and August.
Both offices have been fitted out with a range of safety measures including screens, sanitiser and social distancing signage.
"We have just had our busiest day of bookings for the last three months," said Milby. "The surge in interest we have seen shows that the demand has always been there. People were just waiting for positive news about destinations welcoming British tourists and not having to quarantine when they return to this country.
"We were already taking a lot of bookings for 2021 and even 2022, but now the holiday season is back on for 2020 people have been rushing to make bookings."
She added: "It’s been tough at times, our dedicated staff have been working from home all hours, six days a week throughout the lockdown.
"We know there were customers with some other travel companies who struggled to get through to find out any information. It was important to us to offer an uninterrupted service to make sure we were available to help customers with their holiday queries, and make sure they had the best advice.
"It was about sticking by our community during the difficult times and making sure we were there to help them.
"It’s great to finally be coming out of the other side and to see customers, old and new, coming back to us and trusting us to help them with their holiday plans. We really appreciate the support they have shown us, and continue to show us.
"Without people sticking with us and booking their holidays with us, and continuing to support us, business would have been even more tough.
"It’s been a very emotional time for everyone and now we can all look forward to better days ahead, and to helping customers book the holiday they’ve all been waiting for.
"We and the Travel The Globe team are able to book our own family holidays now as well so we know what a boost and a relief this is for everyone and how important it is to have a holiday to look forward to."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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