Managing director Don Bircham was among a handful of senior figures from Hays NW to roll back the years on his whistlestop tour of nine of the business’s 46 branches.

Saturday proved one of the agency’s busiest days of the year so far, with sales at record levels – up on January 2022 and also January 2019 prior to the pandemic.

Others out and about included retail director Lindsey Barber, who was at the group’s new Blackpool store; regional manager Simone Murphy, who was taking bookings in Bootle; retail operations manager Ruth Ward, who was in St Helens; and regional manager Toni Smith, who staffed a desk in Runcorn.

"The back to the floor day is the best day of the year for me as I get to spend a whole day with one of my teams doing what we do best – selling holidays," said Smith.

"I loved the buzz from the staff when the first booking went through. Just like the staff, I was given a daily target and Insurance and DD [direct debit] conversion that I had to hit. It took me back to my early days in travel when people would be queuing out of the door and what a feeling that gave me."

Top sellers include mainland Spain, Greece and Portugal, as well as the Canaries, Balearics, Florida and cruise, with Sicily also attracting attention owing to ITV show The Italian Job, which has seen Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden and comedian Alan Carr renovate a property.

It comes after Bircham revealed at the Jet2holidays conference last year how he’d reintroduced Saturday working for members of his senior team on a rota basis to ensure they were frequently getting out and about to Hays NW stores on what is typically the busiest day of the week.

Bosses from Barrhead Travel were also out and about at the weekend, with president Jacqueline Dobson and sales and marketing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell among 18 members of Barrhead head office staff joining their teams on the shop floor.