AN OSWESTRY team of travel agents are getting ready for a luxury trip after winning the travel shop of the year award for the second time in four years.

The fantastic five team from Hays Travel branch in Oswestry, managed to bump sales up by 70 per cent since last year, and now they will be jetting off to Turkey for a five-star stay at a luxury hotel.

The company’s annual awards presentation saw the Oswestry branch land Shop of the Year for the Merseyside and North Wales region, while two of its go-getting agents, Melissa Arnold and Karen Ring, were winner and runner-up in the award for the company’s Top Seller.

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Manager Gary Smout, who has been with Hays Travel for 11 years said that they are all thrilled about the win and very proud to have done it again.

He added: “We’ve all worked together for a few years now and get on really well. We’re a bit like a working family. We’re competitive but in a good fun, motivational way.

“We keep a track of our sales and we’re always keen to see the figures go up and up, and I think because we all get on so well and it’s such a friendly work environment we have a good record of repeat customers.

“Many of us have forged friendships with the customers over the years and we all like to hear about how their trip went when they return.”

Over the last year they sent 3,357 customers away on dream holidays - a 70 per cent increase on the previous year.

Gary said: “It was a big leap up on last year’s figures when we were still coming out of the lows of the pandemic but people seem to have regained their confidence now and are happy to travel again, globally and domestically."

Gary took over as manager two years ago from the previous boss Sally Jones who has now moved locations to another role and he is delighted to have regained the Shop of the Year title which Oswestry won in 2019 under Sally’s leadership.

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All winners of this year’s awards get three nights in a five-star hotel for a Hays Travel Conference.

Currently, the Oswestry branch has seen a growing trend of people looking for new adventures a little further afield and there has been a spate of recent bookings for safari holidays.

Gary said fellow agent Claire Roberts who has worked at the branch about eight years has reported a growing number of advance bookings for safari tours in 2025, with travellers keen to catch sight of Africa’s Big Five – the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo.