Duncan Ashley joined the Travelmaker, part of the Channel Islands Co-operative, last year after 20 years working for Thomson.

He said he had enjoyed a particularly successful year with cruise, but also partly attributed his success to a fam trip he took earlier this year.

“One thing I found from moving to the Co-operative was that there were far more educationals,” he said. “I went to Vietnam with Travel 2, and then wrote a piece on it which got featured in a local publication.

“That generated at least five or six bookings, which were all high value.”

Ashley said cruise had also performed well, particularly as customers seek safer alternatives to destinations plagued by terrorism fears.

“I had a couple who had never thought about a cruise, but wanted something different, so I suggested a cruise. They loved it so much that by next summer they’ll have done four.”

Ashley said he had even booked a school party onto P&O’s Britannia for a Norway cruise. “Again, the school just wanted to choose somewhere that they knew was going to be safe.”

He admitted that with terrorism stories frequently dominating the headlines, next year would present a “challenge”, but said a number of long-haul destinations were already proving popular.

“You just have to think about where people feel most comfortable. Australia and New Zealand are doing well, and the US and Canada has really taken off; people are viewing them as safe destinations,” he added.