Snow fails to dampen agents' spirits during first weekend of peaks

Despite the disruption, Perfect Getaways – which has 10 stores across the North West and in the Isle of Man – enjoyed record sales days on Friday 3 January and Saturday 4 January, boss Dave Palmer told TTG.

"Obviously, walk-in business has dropped as people have been unable to get into the shops," said Palmer on Monday. "The roads are completely flooded after the snow melted. Our shops in and around Liverpool are probably the most affected. There’s been a lot of flooding on the train lines.

"Having said that, we’ve had an amazing start to January. Friday and Saturday were our best-ever sales days in our history. People are clearly looking to shop local and book their holidays that way. The market is buoyant.

"We have been all over the place today [Monday]. It’s all hands to the pump. From 7am, we’ve been calling our staff to make sure they can get to work okay."

Seaside Travel owner Nicola Evans Park was another whose business got off to a strong start. “We’ve not been affected by the weather at all," she said.

"We don’t open on Sundays, but we were absolutely packed on Saturday. It’s been the best start to peaks we’ve ever had. I know some people have said differently, but it’s not been the case with us. People seem to want value for money. We’re making sure we’re including a lot of things in the price.”

Joanne Edwards, who co-owns Yorkshire’s Olive Lounge Travel, said that while the agency’s two branches in Cross Hills and Bingley, which opened late last year, did have "a lot of snow", it hadn’t had a major impact on business. "Our clients are so local, they were all able to pop in on foot despite the weather – we’re right on their doorsteps," she said.

"We had one set of clients with Jet2 out in Portugal who were due to fly home on Sunday (5 January) but weren’t able to, but apart from that, we’ve been lucky. It’s not been as busy in the shops as we thought it might be yet, but that’s perhaps because the kids are still off school."

Andrew Earle, owner of Andrew Earle’s Holidays, revealed that despite there being no snow in the Hull area, 11 clients had been impacted by the disruptions to UK air travel. "Nobody’s had a massive problem," he said, adding: "We’re hopeful that [sales] momentum will continue to build this week and that trading this Saturday will be better, if the weather holds.

"Sales haven’t been as good as last year [so far] but that’s to be expected given the current economic pressures. The family market is going to be squeezed this year. Holiday costs are higher than they were last year, and people are struggling to find value for money."

However, Denise Simpson, director of Xpert Travel in Barnsley, said the inclement weather had affected weekend trading. "Fortunately, none of our customers have been stuck abroad, though we have experienced a few delays," she said.

"We still had a decent Sunshine Saturday, but it wasn’t the busy day we expected in the shop. Footfall was noticeably quieter, and we had less email and telephone enquiries than last year. We’ve had heavy snowfall in South Yorkshire, and that’s meant people have been put off coming into the branch."

TTG has also approached Hays Travel and Barrhead Travel for updates from their extensive UK store networks.