Last updated 14:33, Friday, 25 July 2008

Interview with Paul Cusack, onwer of Cockermouth Travel

Working holiday: Paul Cusack, who owns Cockermouth Travel

Q What attracted you to the travel industry?

A Cockermouth Travel is a family business so I was 18 years old and still in school when my father started the business. It had been up and running a year before I joined.

Have you had to take undertake any training?

My initial training, when I first started, was with the Youth Training Scheme in Travel and Tourism which was an ABTA-based course in Lancaster.

But for the most part, and as an owner of a travel agents myself, there’s a lot of emphasis placed on experience. Having the basic skills is important but experience is highly regarded.

If someone came to us with some basic qualifications and so did another person who had four or five years experience as a travel advisor then we would choose the person with the experience as they could best advise our customers.

Destination knowledge and customer service is crucial in this industry.

What does the job involve?

No two days are alike in a travel agents. Personally, my day starts at 7.30am when I come to work to collect the post and read emails from the night before.

By about 8am the calls start coming in from either business or retail clients requesting help with their travel arrangements which could be anything from booking a train ticket to a round the world trip or even a bucket and spade family holiday.

We’ll also help to solve travel problems that customers have had such as delayed flights or unsuitable hotels.

A lot of the job involves travelling and visiting places that will appeal to your clients. It’s something, which as a travel agent, we’re really keen on; if our advisors have been to a place that a customer is interested in visiting and knows a lot about the area and what it has to offer, then we can offer a high standard in customer service plus it’s much easier for our advisors to know their stuff.

What places have you visited?

We try to visit as many and as varied places as possible which will appeal to our customers. Our advisors are sent on cruises, to Dubai and South Africa, for example, to get a better understanding of what there is on offer for our clients and to complete training courses based in those locations.

I recently went to Majorca on an unorganised trip because I wanted to get a better idea of the properties and amenities we offered our clients. I looked at everything that would apply to visitors such as the distance of the hotels to local shops, the beach and also the airport.

On average we have eight visits abroad per year which take place all year round but November and December is when most of the training takes place.

I have just come back from Edinburgh on a cruise ship visit to see what it has to offer; most of the cruises are based from southern ports so I was eager to see what this one in Edinburgh had to offer as it was closer to home for our customers.

What is next for you and your career?

The job is constantly evolving and we are always looking to go on more promotional visits.

I think it’s very important to offer as many services to the public as possible so I feature on a show once a month on Radio Cumbria giving advice on various holiday issues such as passport and travel advice.

We are also looking to have another office upstairs to cover more of the marketing aspect of the business such as sending emails and newsletters to our customers.

We have been in business for 29 years and we are always keen to support anything that’s local.