Chief executive Chris Hedley told TTG how the operator plans to expand its B2B team from two to four to build rapport with travel agents across the whole of the UK.

“Travel agents have been a big part of the business since we started selling through the trade in 2018,” said Hedley. “And we want to build on that relationship and grow our network to agents we haven’t worked with before.

"Canada can be quite complex to sell so it’s important we win hearts and minds and show agents directly what the destination has to offer.”

Next week, Canadian Affair will launch its Iconic Experiences campaign, designed to showcase Canada’s wide range of bucket list experiences through inspiring and educational content, as well as a new microsite.

August was Canadian Affair’s strongest month since January 2019, according to Hedley, which has made the company’s drive to recruit more customer-facing staff all the more important.

“Even more now than before the pandemic, customers want to buy from people,” said Hedley. “And customer service has always been a laser focus for us – we make sure we’re there for the customer all the way through until they’re back off their holiday.”

“We also aim to turn around all bookings within 48 hours maximum – and that used to be 24 hours but the demand is such that it just isn’t possible.”

Like most travel companies, the tour operator has found it difficult to convince people to come back to the sector since the pandemic, but Hedley says this is now changing. “We’ve seen a night and day change in the last eight weeks, and we’ve been flooded with CVs,” he said.

“We’ve taken on six new call centre agents in the last couple of months, and we’re hoping to take another six agents on before the end of October,” said Hedley. “We want to get the onboarded ready for peaks in January.”

As a result, the company will have more staff in customer-facing jobs than ever before.

Nick Talbot, who joined the company last October after more than seven years at Funway Holidays, has also been promoted from marketing manager to head of marketing.

“With a strong B2B background, Nick has really been fantastic at building rapport with our trade team," Hedley added. "He really knows how to communicate and what agents like."