Director Richard Dixon on Monday (4 January) revealed December bookings exceeded those taken in both August and September before the second wave of Covid-19 infections in the UK.

Additionally, Dixon said sales in each of the last six months of the year came in at around 70% of those achieved a year ago, a period in which Holidaysplease recorded six record sales months.

Meanwhile, two members of the team achieved in excess of £100,000 in sales during December, which Dixon hailed as a "fantastic effort".

"I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise in this strangest of strange years for December not to be our worst sales month of the year, but it is still a weird one to get your head around,” said Dixon.

December sales revenue closed at 78% of sales made in December 2019, said Dixon. "“Being 22% down would not normally be putting a smile on our faces.

"But all things considered, it feels a strong result and is a great example of what can be achieved with a can do attitude and a determination to make the best of the incredibly challenging trading conditions.

“We had two team members achieve sales well in excess of £100,000 in the month, which is a fantastic effort for an individual homeworker in a normal December let alone this extraordinary one."

Dixon said he wanted to pay tribute to his team’s "amazing and inspiring" efforts to "consistently achieve" throughout the pandemic.

"For the last six months of the year, the business has achieved sales at 70% of the same period in 2019, which included six record calendar months. I think that’s pretty phenomenal in the circumstances.”

Director Dixon said back in May last year, the firm opted to pursue a "front-foot mindset" despite the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic.

“We asked the homeworkers to think and work differently with a strong emphasis on new customers, and they have responded in terrific fashion," he said.

"It has also been fantastic to see new people starting out their homeworking careers with Holidaysplease in these worst of times, and achieving results way beyond their expectations.”

‘Hung in there’

Looking ahead to 2021, Dizon said he remained upbeat, albeit with no expectation of trading conditions to "feel normal or have any real certainty" for another three to four months.

“Despite everything that Covid-19 has thrown at us, plus the lack of understanding and support afforded to us at government level, tour operators and travel agents have hung in there perhaps better than could have been expected when the pandemic kicked off last spring.

"It would be naive to expect peaks this year to be anything like normal, but the likelihood of a decent summer and sales getting back to pre-pandemic levels though the second half of the year increases with every vaccine administered."