Barrhead Travel has reopened another seven stores this week - including its first three in Scotland.
The agency’s Dunfermline, East Kilbride and Newton Mearns branches welcomed back customers on Thursday (9 July), with four English-based stores in the Isle of Wight, Doncaster, Wallasey and Darlington also reopening.
President Jacqueline Dobson said Barrhead was aiming to reopen the remainder of its retail network “over the next few weeks”, while “continuously reviewing” in-store processes and business progress.
“The retail experience certainly looks different with social distancing measures in place as well as introducing new ways for our customers to interact with us but our teams have embraced the change and our customers have welcomed us back to the high street,” Dobson said.
“We can definitely see green shoots for our industry in terms of bookings and the appetite for late getaways is increasing day by day. The opening of high street travel agencies across the country has also helped boost customer confidence to book holidays for late summer.”
Dobson also urged for an urgent review of the Scottish government’s decision to exclude Spain for its quarantine exemption list - with the move creating widespread frustration for the Scottish trade.
“Spain is overwhelmingly our top-selling destination – especially in Scotland where holiday favourites include Tenerife and Majorca. We really appreciate that safety has to come first however we would urge the Scottish government to review this decision as soon as possible before causing further harm to the Scottish travel industry who rely on these routes for both inbound and outbound visitors," said Dobson.