Charity work proves good business move for one Welsh travel agency

TTG Travel Awards finalist Delmar World is feeling the benefits of charitable giving, having, for the second year in a row, supported local event the Gresford Festival, which was attended by 800 villagers back in September.

The agency had a stand and donated first prize in the raffle; £350 worth of vouchers for a short break, of which Superbreak contributed £150. The winner, who hasn’t used the agency before, is planning a Venice trip. There were nine other prizes in the raffle, which raised £3,000.

“It’s a good way of getting people in. Once they come in and book, even if it’s something small, they see the great service they get, because we’re pretty much a full concierge service here,” explains marketing and events consultant Chloe Griffin. As a matter of course Delmar books excursions and dinner reservations, includes “goodies” such as guidebooks in ticket packs and makes welcome-home calls.

One of the festival organisers also became a new customer, booking an Indochina tour after attending a promotional night supported by Insider Journeys. “They’re someone who usually books direct with a tour operator,” says Griffin. Superbreak also helped with last year’s festival prize and Delmar estimates its bookings with the operator have doubled as a result of the association.

Other custom resulting from the festival is harder to quantify but that’s not necessarily the point, says Griffin. “It was more of a building awareness thing, to remind people we’re there; villagers who have maybe gone past the shop but never come in, letting them know we’re really friendly by chatting with them, without trying to push anything.

“Last year we had people coming in because they’d seen us at the fete and had a conversation with the directors. It then becomes their first point of call for booking a holiday.”

Despite being Gresford-based for over 50 years, the agency sees profile-building as an ongoing cycle. “There are new people moving in all the time and it’s quite a wealthy area,” explains Griffin. She adds that many longer-term villagers have a misconception the agency’s specialism of long-haul tailor-made is all it does; so a family seeking a fly-and-flop needs to know they are welcome too.

Something the agency pushed at the festival was its upcoming California client event, which was supported by the tourist board and included a presentation and wine tasting. “We do a lot of similar events, every two months or so, to bring new clients in and remind people we’re here. It works very well,” says Griffin. “We’ve had several appointments made to see Howard (Davies, Delmar director) and we pretty much know they’re going to book as he sells it really well!”

The festival is not the only charity the agency supports. It has made donations to schools and helped them produce brochures. This year it also began supporting the Royal British Legion at a client’s request. Delmar and Leger together promoted discounted battlefield tours. Delmar staff also did an eight-mile sponsored hill walk that raised just over £600, including client contributions.

Chloe believes charity work is big on soft benefits: “The sponsored walk was brilliant for staff morale… and it gave a good impression.” On a practical level the team’s tweets and Facebook posts about the challenge also helped drive traffic to its website, and to its new Cruise Club site, launched in August, where it promotes exclusive regional offers.

The sponsored walk, which the agency plans to repeat, was three months in the planning but most charity involvement is more ad hoc. “We’re quite open to most things, it’s more about fitting it in, time-wise,” says Griffin. “We mainly focus on local stuff and we would like to do at least two big things a year. We like to be out and about in the community.”