The director of Dundee’s Ramsay World Travel has said there has never been a better time for the industry as the firm celebrates its busiest ever year — on the 40th anniversary of its opening.
Colin Ramsay has been with the company since its humble beginnings in 1984 and has seen travel agents come and go.
The firm’s motto still reads “always hammers the big boys”, with Colin and Ramsay World Travel maintaining they will “virtually never be beaten on price”.
Now employing 75 staff across eight offices and hosting a website too, Colin is proud of growth in profits and turnover every year for the last four decades.
The company has shops across Tayside, Fife and Scotland, including in Dundee city centre, Lochee, Perth, Stirling, Aberdeen, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline.
And the Whitehall Crescent headquartered agency has celebrated its special ruby anniversary by giving away around £3,000 in travel vouchers.
Ramsay World Travel hits 40
Colin Ramsay has been there since day one and has watched his company travel from strength to strength.
He said: “It has been tremendous, and our 40th year has been our most successful ever.
“We have enjoyed a record year, and when we ran our competition, it has helped generate not just interest but additional bookings too.
“And apart from the Covid years, we have increased profit and turnover every single year since 1984. This year is no different, we are already sitting 17% on last year.
“Repeat customers and new customers from further afield, through our website account now for a substantial part of our business.
“People like to speak to a real person when they are booking their holiday.
“We can put together deals that very few others can match, especially for trips to Canada and the US, Asia and even Europe.
“And the pandemic demonstrated to a lot of people, when they tried to get their holiday changed or cancelled, they were waiting up to 60 days just for a response.
“Whereas our customers could call us and we were available 12 hours a day, and this is still the case.
“People feel secure with bricks and mortar business, it is still very important to many people. They want to go with someone they know, who they trust.”
Bright future
And Colin said looking forward things have “never been rosier”.
“We are expanding our headcount every year, we are increasing turnover and have high profitability.
“It’s a very bright future for the High Street travel agent.”
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