Travel with Katie Butler: In sunny Paphos with Jet2holidays​​​​​​​...

Katie Butler, Total Travel, writes: We had the choice to depart from either Glasgow or Liverpool, and of course, Liverpool was our closer option, and so, on Monday evening, we checked-in to the Premier Inn at Liverpool airport.

Jet2holidays only started to fly from Liverpool at the start of this year, and not having flown from Liverpool before we were excited to see what it was like.

The journey to the airport took just over an hour, and the car park was just a two-minute walk to the departure terminal. The overall check-in and security took less than 20 minutes, and being a smaller airport, felt a lot less manic. Definitely an option for those that don’t like the busier airports. I would definitely fly from Liverpool again. On arrival at Paphos Airport, we went quickly through passport control, and luggage was already coming through on the carousel. We were impressed with the efficiency of the ground arrangements at the airport, and even passport control were smiling and talkative, which was a refreshing change.

Cyprus is commonly known as a winter destination and the Paphos area operates all year round, and is popular with those seeking a relaxed atmosphere and some winter sunshine. On arrival on Tuesday afternoon the sun was shining, with it was a very pleasant 18 degrees. It is understandable why many choose Paphos at this time of year.

The Hotel Constantinou Athena Beach is located directly on the beachfront and has the most amazing landscaped gardens, making it extremely popular for overseas weddings. Katie from our Brighouse branch, did actually get married at the hotel in 2013, and so the trip brought back some very special memories for her. The Jet2holidays VIP agent conference is without doubt my favourite event of the year. It is a reward, to thank the top selling agents for their hard work throughout the year. It is a lot of fun, as well as extremely informative, and we are looked after exceptionally well by the Jet2 Trade Team. The conference theme this year was ‘Time Machine’, and celebrates ten years of Jet2 holding overseas conferences for independent travel agents, of which, Total Travel has been lucky enough to have been invited to them all. At the time of writing, it is the first morning, and of course we cant wait to hear all the updates, which I will be able to relay back in next weeks write-up. Last week, December remained the top selling month with a ten per cent share, and May was second, also accounting for ten per cent share of the bookings. As the cold spell continues, we are definitely still seeing demand for winter sunshine. Cruise also continues to be strong and last week accounted for a huge 27 per cent of new bookings.

Top selling destinations based on passenger numbers were Tenerife, Turkey and cruises departing from Southampton. Into the first day of conference we now go, and we cant wait to hear what’s new for Jet2holidays, and so of course more on this next week.