At the group’s conference in Nottingham, Kelly Cookes – head of The Freedom Travel Group and CPTA (now called Freedom Personal Travel Advisors) – told delegates that for the financial year ending September 30 2017, sales grew by 13% and passengers by 11%.

“Our average sales value also continues to grow and we finished the year 4% up versus the year before,” she said.

“On top of this we had a fantastic year for recruitment and grew the number of members and PTAs by 10%, and had a record number of nominations in trade awards.”

At the conference, entitled "Freedom the next chapter", Cookes added that the knowledge of agents is what keeps customers coming back.

“There is no doubt that after a turbulent 2017, 2018 will bring its own challenges starting with the ban on credit card charges,” she said.

“I regularly get asked by friends and family what the benefits of booking via an agent are an aside from giving the obvious answers such around financial security, the one thing that I always talk about is knowledge.

“The world may appear to be getting smaller with very few destinations now inaccessible with even the moon being an option nowadays however our industry is also very congested.

“But this is where agents can shine. You live and breathe the products and excel at finding the right match for your customers. We have an unlimited amount of resources at our fingertips.

“So my message here is to get out there and take advantage of all of the training and events that you have access to. The phrase ’knowledge is power’ has never been more relevant than in our industry right now.”