Davina McCall has urged the travelling public to use a travel agent after admitting it was "silly" to have stopped using an agent herself a decade or so ago.

TV superstar McCall signed up as a Hays Travel's first brand ambassador in May having long been vocal about her passion for visiting new places and learning about other cultures.

Since taking up her role, McCall – a two-time host of the Travel Industry Awards – has been using her platform to promote the value of travel agents and warn of the risks of booking directly.

“About 10 years ago, I started booking my own holidays after previously using agents,” McCall told TTG. “It was such a silly thing to do.”

She revealed she had only “created more work” for herself, particularly when coordinating a holiday for a family of five with very specific requirements. “It was madness,” she continued. “Nobody should book a holiday on their own.”

McCall added the value of agents had been particularly evident when travelling long-haul, crediting them for helping her to pull off a self-drive holiday to the Rocky Mountains from Vancouver to Calgary. “The kids still talk about that one!” she said.

The expertise isn’t the only reason McCall has championed the trade, though. She believes independent businesses like Hays Travel, who has more than 500 branches across the UK and Ireland, are leading the bricks-and-mortar revival.

“I feel like everything that has been taken off the high street will come back,” she said. “We are social creatures and there are a lot of people out there who are on their own. People are just yearning to look into somebody’s eyes.”

McCall added the rise of technology has only solidified this need for human connection, having personally experienced the frustration of dealing with AI [artificial intelligence] when booking trips online. “If you have a problem and you’re talking to bots – good luck with that!” she said.

(Credit: Hays Travel)

As for her idea of a perfect holiday, McCall admitted she has a “broad spectrum” of travel loves. However, after a hectic few months and a series of health issues, the TV icon is currently looking for a relaxed break in a warm destination.

“If you were going to make me choose one type of holiday at the moment, it would probably be a two-week-long beach holiday,” she said. “I’m exhausted from a busy summer, tons of work – which I'm so grateful for – and my son’s left school. I need a rest.”

McCall is considering Thailand for Christmas, having been inspired to visit after watching series three of The White Lotus. “I’ve never been, which is quite weird, because I’ve been to Bali and Indonesia.”

She is also partial to holidaying in France, her mother’s birthplace and the country where, at 18, she worked in Paris as a singing waitress. “I’m half French but I go full French on the plane – scarf wrapped round the neck, sunglasses, imaginary cigarettes,” she said. “I get an attitude and I'm a bit more sassy.”

Once she gets her energy back, McCall hopes to revisit the Arctic Circle, having shot an episode of her 2016 ITV series Life at the Extreme in Svalbard.

“It was extraordinary because obviously it’s white for as far as you can see,” she said. “We went in April and May, the sun was kissing the horizon.”

Rather than go for work this time, she’d like to share the experience with her 19-year-old son, Chester, whom she hailed as “much more adventurous” than her.

McCall confessed there’s one specific style of trip, however, she will never be redoing. “A terrible holiday for me now would be the kind of holiday I loved going on at 17,” she said.

“San Antonia, Ibiza… ole ole ole, drink until you’re blind drunk – I don’t want that anymore. I’ve done it!”