For travel agents, the traditional bookings lull in December is a chance to reflect on the year that’s passed and to gear up for the peaks. It’s also a time when many are inspired to give back, raising money for good causes and adding extra festive sparkle to their high street.
Spreading goodwill is the top motivation but, as TTG has found, many agents find that channelling their inner Santas makes December the ideal time to make their presence felt in their local communities and can even bring extra customers to their door.
Elf trails and treasure hunts
In the Yorkshire village of Ripponden, Holiday Hamster has been raising money for a local charity, Candlelighters, which supports children with cancer and their families. Marketing manager Lydia Gordon says the charity means a lot to manager, Hayley Walker, whose friend lost their young son to cancer 10 years ago.
Holiday Hamster first organised an elf trail last year, giving out elves for local businesses to hide and children to spot. “We bought all the elves and dropped them off,” explains Lydia. “We named them too; some have festive names and others old-fashioned names like Bob and Clive.”
Holiday Hamster send forms to the local school for children to fill out. They need to match the elf name to the shop where it’s been hidden, and post completed forms into a special post box in the travel agency. There’s no fee to enter, instead donations are encouraged, and Holiday Hamster matches every pound donated. Prizes for children taking part have been donated by local businesses, and winners are picked at random by Holiday Hamster’s very own mascot, aided by Father Christmas.
“This year the trail has grown, and we’ve had more businesses want to get involved – we have 18 elves around the village now. All the business owners say it’s brought more people into their shops and cafes and they’ve loved seeing children out and about, looking for the elves.”
As the chief organising elf committee, the trail has also helped Holiday Hamster raise their own profile: “It goes without saying that collecting money for charity and spreading festive cheer have been the main objectives, but it has brought many more people to our shop,” says Lydia. “Often they will say, we didn’t realise you were here, we must come back to book our next holiday with you.”
And after a successful two years, the Ripponden Elf Trail is here to stay: “Lots of businesses don’t want to hand the elfs back, so it looks like the trail will stay in the village,” chuckles Lydia.
Tivoli Travel, with four branches around Yorkshire, also runs a successful elf trail in the village of Mirfield, and this year took part in a key hunt around the village of Holmfirth. Magic keys were hidden around the town centre on a Saturday in late November, to be found all day, from morning to late afternoon.
Those lucky enough to find one, took it to the shop indicated on the tag, and if the key opened the chest, the prize inside was theirs. Tivoli donated cinema tickets for their prize.
Tivoli Travel took part in a key hunt, to encourage locals into the town centre
Director Jo Richards said this was a vital community initiative after a tough trading year for what is best known as the setting for long-running sitcom Last of the Summer Wine: “Holmfirth is a beautiful town, but we’ve been blighted by long-running roadworks, which have damaged lots of businesses. And in Mirfield, there’s a new housing estate, and we want them to know what the town centre can offer.
"The wet weather doesn’t help because it sends people to indoor shopping centres. So, anything that we can do to bring people out and support a strong town centre, we will do. We all win when a high street is thriving.”
Festive coach trips for charity
Hays Travel in Whitley Bay has been running festive coach trips for 15 years now. This year they’ve run five festive excursions, taking customers old and new, to Christmas markets including York, Edinburgh, Leeds & Harrogate, and the Dickensian Christmas market in Wetherby.
“Each coach carries approximately 50 passengers,” explains manager Darren Wetherell, “and once the coach is paid for, the rest of the ticket money goes to charity.”
Hays Travel Whitley Bay: 'Always a jolly atmosphere on our festive coach trips'
There’s a festive atmosphere on the coach with games, quizzes, bingo, a raffle prize draw and a festive singalong all part of the entertainment. “We give out free wine and mince pies,” says Darren, “and there’s always a jolly atmosphere.”
Last year they raised £5,602, and they’ve surpassed that with this year’s total of £7,638, with the money being shared between three local charities: North Tyneside Disability Forum, supporting disabled adults; Tim Lamb Children's Centre, supporting disabled children; and Heart NE, supporting families in poverty.
The trips are advertised in Hays Whitley Bay’s shop window and on social media but Darren says word of mouth plays a big part in filling the coaches.
“We have quite a few regulars that come year after year, and they tell their friends so at least half of every coach tends to be new customers,” he says. “It’s a great way to get to know them – and many book onto longer coach tours after getting a taste for it with the Christmas Market day trips.”
Hays Travel Whitley Bay has also been collecting toy donations for children in need
One of the biggest success stories is a couple of female clients who like to travel together. Their very first booking was a festive charity coach trip and they’ve gone on to book many more holidays with the branch, including a partial world cruise next year.
It’s not only good for customer relations, it also boosts team morale. “I used to have to persuade the team to go on these trips but now everyone puts their hand up to go – they love helping to host them,” says Darren.
Refreshments for cancer patients
TTG Top 50 travel agency Olive Lounge Travel are well versed in giving back, and this year, with the excitement of a new shop opening in Skipton, they decided to move their charity drive earlier, so the benefit would be felt over the Christmas period.
Owner Gillian Polyhos explains: “We took our now famous cabin trolley out into the Bingley community dispensing drinks and snacks for free, and selling raffle tickets with some nice prizes up for grabs, to raise funds for the Airedale Hospital community.”
Refreshments donated to Airedale General Hospital by Olive Lounge Travel Bingley
She added: “Our hard work delivered a huge contribution: we matched the funds raised to give the Haematology and Oncology Day Unit two coffee machines and months of refreshment supplies for patients going through difficult times.
"We are proud to have made such a substantial contribution especially over the Christmas period, and it's been such fun that we hope our visible commitment leads to a cheeky extra booking or two!”
Coats and sausage rolls for homeless people
While high street agencies are ideally placed to support their local community, this does not preclude home-based agents from giving back too. Travel Counsellor Donna Waddington directly supports people living on the streets in Manchester at Christmastime.
She explains: “Last weekend I donated warm coats and Greggs vouchers to people sleeping rough in Manchester city centre, which is something I have done every year since 2018. This year I went with my husband, although our children have joined in previous years.”
“I will walk the streets and pick people out,” she adds. “Sadly, homelessness is very visible in Manchester. I always stop and have a chat and find out about them, and I get such lovely responses. Although one year we did struggle to get them to take one of my husband’s old coats, which was was hilarious. The vouchers are always appreciated as they have the flexibility to spend them when required.”
The idea for the vouchers originally came from Donna’s group of local Travel Counsellors who used to do a Secret Santa: “I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed by buying more ‘things’, so suggested instead that we each donated £10 to fund Greggs vouchers, which I would then take into the city. I’ve kept that tradition going ever since, and always put a gentle shout-out out for anyone who’d like to contribute, vouchers and coats.”
Donna’s travel business also makes a donation to Shelter, the equivalent to providing Christmas dinner for two people.
“For me, it never felt like it needed to be anything big – it just felt like a practical, kind thing to do, and something small that could make a difference, particularly at Christmas.”
