Speaking at the agency’s conference on Friday 27 May, chief executive Phil Nuttall told TTG the increase was down to the way the agency responded to the pandemic.

“We kept our phone lines open, we didn’t furlough people and we took loans out to keep the business going," he said.

“Our customer service aspect was the most important thing during that time, the word travelled, people trusted us and are therefore now booking with us."

Nuttall emphasised the importance of considering business infrastructure when making changes and to ensure it did not overwhelm or inhibit staff.

“It’s all very well saying we can do this and that, but in order to do it, we have to make sure we have the right people in place and are retaining them," he said. 

In terms of business strategy, managing director John Warr said the agency had launched a new VIP initiative for its VIP customers which had helped to "significantly grow" the business over the last eight months. 

"We’re communicating more regularly with these customers, our top clients, and have held several consumer events locally which is good for the business. We’re working at retaining customers and then putting strategies in place to attract new ones." 

Warr said bespoke dashboards had been created for homeworkers in particular to help drive enquires, and that there was greater visibility of what customers were searching for on the website, enabling the business to push marketing that catered to it.

Warr continued that the senior leadership team had been restructured from working in silos to increase the sharing and passing on of knowledge. 

The business has also had a string of successes, in December 2021 the group carried out a survey among its clients, with a 20% response rate, and found 98% of its customers judged the business as "good or very good" when it came to providing support during the pandemic.

The company also won an award for ‘best place to work in travel for medium sized business in the UK’ from the best work places in travel 2022 awards which Warr emphasised demonstrated the team’s "focus" on what was important to staff. 

In terms of supporting agents, in March 2022 Travel Village launched a new specialist support team to “take issues away” from agents and the care team.

“It’s an added layer of support, like a buffer,” said director Paula Nuttall 

The agency is trailing a wellbeing support service, which has 15 members, to “check in” on employees’ mental health, and has appointed a dedicated internal mental-health champion.