Britannia Services Ltd, the owner of coach tours specialist Britannia Tours, has opened a new branch in Mosta to bring its network to four in a bid to reach customers across the islands.

More than 60 per cent of our customers return

The company, which is currently celebrating its 30th year in the travel business, is also working to consolidate its identity so that it has a consistent image for all its functions, managing director Noel Farrugia told The Times Business.

The façade of the Mosta branch has been “wrapped” in red, to match Britannia’s logo and signage; the visual concept will also be used on its stand at the forthcoming Amitex travel fair.

With a team of 14 people across its branches, Britannia continues to grow its operation as loyal customers return to plan their holidays.

“We are a tour operator rather than a travel agency,” Mr Farrugia said. “We examine the responses to our customer satisfaction questionnaires and act upon them. More than 60 per cent of our customers return, and we put that down to fulfilling our promises. We are constantly looking for new destinations that would appeal to our customer base of elderly travellers and families with young children.”

Britannia’s business model revolves around package holidays and charter flights in collaboration with Air Malta. Mr Farrugia explained the company always believed in supporting the national airline and is confident a solution to Air Malta’s financial woes will be found in due time.

Every year, he added, Britannia wins new customers on the back of the “considerable” amount invested into a carefully planned advertising campaign.

The company is aware, however, that numerous new customers are mostly the result of word-of-mouth recommendation by satisfied clients.

He stressed the ever-growing online booking trend does not affect Britannia’s customer base which is largely made up of travellers who wanted to be looked after on their holiday, rather than going it alone. The locations for its branches – the company is also present in Victoria, Valletta, and Paola – were chosen so that potential customers would have easier access to the company’s services.

Britannia is currently gearing up for the Easter break, traditionally a curtain raiser for the peak summer season, with newly arranged tours to destinations like Spain’s Pamplona, until now rarely visited by tours of Maltese travellers.

“This first quarter was slower than last year’s,” Mr Farrugia explained. “It has been a particularly cold winter in Malta and people were put off booking holidays to European destinations after seeing the rest of the continent snowed in on the news. Easter bookings picked up and we are gearing up for our peak season which starts in mid-July and runs to the third week of September.

“In the meantime, the business will focus on sports and music events, and short breaks coinciding with national holidays.”