Among the signings is The Holiday Emporium, which began trading in January but has yet to open its doors to customers. Based in Rainford in Merseyside, the agency is owned by local family members Denise and Terry Frodsham, Heather Carter and Andrew Cawley.

Cawley said: “Our aim is to deliver a bespoke travel service to our customers. Our team has over 50 years of expert travel knowledge to share with our customers and help bring their holiday dreams to life.”

Other new members include Travel By Hannah in Marlborough and Travel By Design in Jersey.

Travel By Hannah is a “boutique” agency in a prime, high street position in Marlborough, where Robin’s World Travel previously operated for 35 years.

Owner Hannah Porter said: “Travel By Hannah is born from my love of travel and seizing an opportunity to be able to continue to share that with others. We’re a small shop with two staff and a big passion for travel.”

Travel By Design was formed in January 2021 by former staff of The Channel Islands Co-operative Society’s Co-operative Travelmaker agencies, which closed at the end of January. Located at a former Travelmaker branch in St Helier, the shop employs two staff.

The agency’s director Carl Winn said: “Following the announcement that the Channel Islands Co-operative Society would be closing Travelmaker, the Society supported a group of former branch colleagues in setting up an independent agency and Travel By Design was born.”

Alison Holmes, Head of Co-op Travel Consortium, which has 140-plus members said: “It continues to be a really challenging time for our members right now, as it is for the whole industry, so to have good news to share about welcoming four new members to our growing consortium, with a further two set to join in the coming weeks, is a welcome boost. 

“Consortium-wide bookings over the past couple of weeks have leaned heavily towards winter 2021/22, with departures in that season accounting for nearly 40% of bookings, whilst summer 2022 bookings are also proving popular (36%) and just 19% of bookings are for summer 2021 departures.”