Simone Murphy, regional manager for north Wales and Merseyside, Toni Smith, regional manager for Manchester and Cheshire, and Ruth Ward, retail operations manager, returned to their branches in Oldham, Wrexham and Connahs Quay respectively for the challenge.

Smith was the first off the mark with a Thailand booking for 2023, beforeMurphy and Ward followed up with a Turkey booking and a twin-centre Florida trip. Smith said "it was great fun" to be back in the shops, particularly on a "busy peaks" Saturday.

"I was unsure if I still had the skills, but it all came back very quickly and I was straight back in the swing of things and back selling and looking after our wonderful customers," she said.

Hays Travel North West, a franchise partner of Hays Travel, operates 44 stores across the region, with managing director Don Bircham reporting strong turn of year sales.

He said the firm was "benchmarking against a very strong January 2020" and although the year for off to a slow start, momentum had built over the past week with Saturday (15 January) proving the busiest trading day of the year so far.

Late last year, Hays North West embarked on a recruitment drive ahead of peaks, with Bircham telling TTG the firm was on the look out for at least 20 new staff across a range of roles.