Worldwide tour operator, Gold Medal, has seen strong performance this peaks period, with sales already reaching record numbers in the first week with over £1million in sales via the call centre on Saturday 04 January alone. This, combined with a significant increase in sales via the website, represented a 15 per cent year-on-year increase for the day the industry has dubbed ‘Sunshine Saturday’. Finishing off the first weekend in peaks, Sunday 05 January was also a strong day with the operator seeing a 25 per cent growth on the prior year.
A key contributor to this weekend’s success is the operator’s Orlando 2021 programme which went on sale Friday 03 January – earlier than ever before – and offers agents guaranteed pricing on all packages booked for travel throughout 2021, flying with Virgin Atlantic. This unique offering gives agents the opportunity to secure bookings up to 24 months in advance of travel and covers all school holiday periods, regional departures from London, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast, and all Disney Resort Hotels and Universal properties. This product proved immensely popular with calls for Orlando increasing by 48 per cent year-on-year over the weekend.
Lisa McAuley, Managing Director, Gold Medal and Travel 2 commented: “It’s really exciting to see such a strong start to the peaks season. Much of this success is due to Gold Medal placing Orlando 2021 on sale early which offered agents guaranteed pricing for packages throughout the whole of 2021. This resulted in a strong increase in the number of calls for Orlando, and confirming its position as one of the more popular destinations for this peaks period.”
