Long cold winter heats up area travel agent business
Middleton Travel gets 20 calls an hour
MIDDLETON, Wis. — They don’t need a thermometer or snow gauge at Middleton Travel to know what kind of winter we’ve been having. They can tell you based on the number of times the phone has been ringing.
“It has been (an) average of 20 calls at least per hour,” said Kristi McCarthy of Middleton Travel.
The calls started coming shortly after the holidays ended and as frigid cold temperatures and snows started falling, the frequency of those calls have risen.
“People have been frustrated with our bitter cold temps that we’ve had this winter, so they’re looking to take a cruise or pretty much any place south that they can escape the cold,” McCarthy said.
She said some customers who had vacation trips planned for later this year have called looking for an additional excursion to a warm weather destination to take sooner rather than later.
“(People have been) coming in not knowing where they want to go, just saying ‘Take me someplace warm’ and ‘I want to speak to an agent now,'” McCarthy said.
She said there is a satisfaction in helping customers escape a long cold winter.
“I love it because it is the excitement of when they walk away from here, they are booked to their destination,” McCarthy said. “They are excited about it and you know you’re just putting their mind at ease to say, ‘OK, we’re going to get a break from this winter.'”
