This month, Dalton Park, the largest shopping and leisure outlet in the North East, will open the doors to its latest commercial agreement with, Hays Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agent.
Hays Travel is a family-owned business that started from humble beginnings back in 1980, when founder John Hays, began selling holidays just around the corner from Dalton Park Outlet itself. Hays Travel now has over 500 branches nationwide and loyal to its local roots, the business still operates its head office from Sunderland.
Hays Travel will open at the end of February and will be taking centre stage at the front entrance of Dalton Park Outlet. Spanning across an impressive 900 square foot, there will be six desks as well as a travel money counter. The location of Hays Travel features a curved, wrap around frontage design which is a sought-after unit that cannot be missed by customers.
In 2024, it was reported by ABTA that there had been a significant rise in people booking their holidays through a travel agent. Almost two in five (38%) of people booked their holidays through a professional, up from 34% in 2023. This steady growth is down to the demand for in person support and help when making holiday decisions. Hays Travel is delighted to be part of this growth and opening at Dalton Park Outlet has come at the perfect time to kick start 2025.
The Hays Travel opening comes after an incredibly strong commercial period for Dalton Park Outlet as it celebrated a record-breaking Christmas period. Boxing Day itself was marked as the busiest day the outlet has ever seen.
Global Mutual, asset manager for Dalton Park, has big plans for the centre this year, with many new openings and opportunities on the horizon. Dalton Park Outlet’s rebrand last year has put it in good stead to drive ahead with its growth trajectories which will be unveiled over the course of 2025.
Nicky Lovell, head of outlets and retail destinations at Global Mutual, commented: “Once again, we’re thrilled to be offering something totally new to our Dalton Park customers for 2025. Both Dalton Park and Hays Travel align very closely in brand values by wanting to offer a brilliant service to their customers and the communities that they operate in.”
Jane Schumm, retail director at Hays Travel, commented: “Dalton Park is the region’s largest outlet shopping destination and is becoming an increasingly popular hotspot for visitors thanks to its vast range of shopping, catering and leisure retailers. It made perfect sense for us to open our latest Hays Travel branch at the centre to offer our expert services to an ever-growing audience”.
