C The World

With passing trade only a small portion of their business given the shop’s location in the tiny village of Easter Compton, innovation has been key to attracting clients. This includes having a member of the team who performs out-of-hours appointments at the homes of clients who are unable to visit the shop, while others members of the team often hand deliver tickets and travel documents to customers.

The store itself is not what most would expect from a travel agency – it has a five-foot tall fibreglass Gromit, decked out in a suitcase design (named Grom Voyage), one of 80 distinct creations that were created for charity and auctioned off. Park admits Grom is an attention grabber – as is the running machine at the back of the shop in her office, which clients regularly come in and use. But they are not the only features attracting clients to the store.

C The World also runs an impressive number of events, such as the Italian pizza-making destination evening it held last May, which secured 10 bookings. The agency’s Claire Rosser even accompanied clients on the trip, with the group still meeting up regularly. And then there was C The World’s famous holiday show - following heavy snowfall, seven out of the 16 tour operators due to attend cancelled. Carolyn asked them to email her their presentations instead, learned them all by heart and then presented them herself to the 50 customers who made it to the event. Her hard work paid off – the agency secured an immediate £250,000 booking as a result! Park is not one to rest on her laurels though – she also has a regular slot on BBC Bristol, where she offers comment and insight on holiday destinations.

• ctheworld.co.uk