Attraction World engages agents with its Guide Dogs charity drive

It was the statistics that first galvanised Gail Dunwoodie into action. “I was staggered when I found out somebody in the UK goes blind every hour,” the head of trade product for Attraction World says.

“And unlike some organisations The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association receives no government funding – it relies on donations.”

Last year, the ancillaries provider elected to support the charity for a two-year period following on from its two-year partnership with Barnardos.

And the progress made through the company’s fundraising efforts has been heartening so far, Dunwoodie notes.

In the frame

In March 2015 the business launched a trade-focused incentive: for every three Attraction World bookings made by an agent, the company would pledge £3 to the charity.

Agents don’t walk away from the bookings empty-handed either: once the relevant reference numbers have been emailed to Attraction World, they receive a cuddly toy pup in the post as well as a framed birth certificate.

And it seems that agents were keen to get on board with the initiative, as by September the target of £5,000 had been met.

Attraction World also held some of its own fundraising events in-house to help achieve the goal, from hosting cake sales to employees taking part in half marathons and even jumping out of planes.

The target of £5,000 isn’t an arbitrary figure – it’s the cost of raising and training the puppy during its first 12 months. And it can be quite a rigorous process.

“The dogs have to have a certain temperament,” Dunwoodie explains. “A lot of them don’t pass their initial tests.”

And it’s not until the dog reaches 20-22 months in age that it is considered fully trained and matched with a person with sight loss.

In December, Attraction World’s sponsored black Labrador puppy was born, and thanks to submissions from travel agents he was subsequently named Milo.

The Attraction World team eventually got to meet him in March, alongside agents from Thomas Cook Oldbury.

“They’re local to us and have been very supportive,” Dunwoodie says. “Manager Darren Bien took the initiative to leave envelopes around the foreign exchange desk, and we received £100 just from customers leaving their spare change in them.”

Attraction World’s campaign has in fact gone so well that there is only a limited number of cuddly toy pups left, and with another £4,356 already banked, puppy number two could well be on its way very soon.

“When we first went with the idea I was a little nervous as to whether or not agents would engage with us but the success has been phenomenal,” Dunwoodie says.

“Agents love the pups and the bookings are still coming in 15 months from initial launch. We will definitely be supporting our second pup before too long!”