Year-on-year sales volumes with Gold Medal increased during each of the first three weeks of the year; +14% in the first, +17% in the second and +24% in the third. "This peaks period has surpassed expectations," Gold Medal managing director Simon Applebaum told TTG.

Across dnata’s B2B portfolio, comprising Gold Medal, Cruise Plus, Pure Luxury and Incredible Journeys, multi-centre sales have increased by 21% year-on-year, with twin- and single-centre bookings up by 17%. Family bookings with Cruise Plus have increased by a third, while for Gold Medal, they rose by +20%.

Dnata has also seen lengths of stay increase for both its Incredible Journeys and Pure Luxury brands, and there was also a 165% jump in agents transacting via Gold Medal’s website and using the “holiday funnel” search engine.

Meanwhile, a number of key destinations – Australia (42%), Thailand (34%), United Arab Emirates (24%), Maldives (22%) and US (16%) – have experienced year-on-year growth.

And following a “significant” recruitment drive last year, average call times are now under 10 minutes. Agents also now have access to additional out-of-hours support from dnata’s homeworking network for quotes.

"We dedicated a lot of time in 2023 to recruitment and investing in our people to ensure we consistently provide the level of knowledge and support our agents need," said Applebaum.

“Our peaks performance so far is reflective of this, and we are looking forward to seeing what the remaining weeks of peaks has in store for our brands.”