Matt Barnes of Barnes Coaches is sharing his plans for the new year

It's the beginning of a new year and many businesses are planning for consolidation and the growth of their business. We’re talking to small business owners who are based in Swindon about their plans for the first month of 2024.

Up today we have Matt Barnes, Director of Swindon's best known coach hire and holiday company, who is sharing his plans for the new year with us.

What big things are you looking forward to in 2024?
January is always our biggest month for holiday bookings and this year we have more holidays on sale than ever so can’t wait to be busy!

This year is a Leap Year. Do that mean anything to you?
A leap year means that we get another day in the year to provide more day trips. This means that we love Leap Years!

Can you share your business ethics for 2024? How do you want your brand to come across?
Quality is always the best way, be it coaches, drivers, hotels, office staff, everything!

What are you doing for charity or community this year?
Our main charity is Cystic Fibrosis and we will do things to help raise money throughout the year. You can find out more about this on our social media and website.

This year will be a big year of sport – most notably the Olympics and Paralympics. If you enjoy these events can you name those moments you watched/experienced which have stayed with you? Why?
It is also the Football Euro Championships in Germany which are a much bigger deal to me than the Olympics. I went camping for 2 weeks in Germany when the World Cup was in Germany in 2006 which was a great experience and I’m looking forward to going and seeing some grounds that I remember.

There are multiple ‘awareness’ days & weeks & months in January 2024 – could you pick just one and say why you’ll be engaging with it.
Our business doesn’t really engage with many of the awareness days. Personally I like to support the independent pubs who lose some of their profits when Dry January comes around.

Any special offers for January or February 2024 you’d like to mention?
We have a free travel club that people can sign up to. They’ll receive our latest news and huge discounts on our day trips.

Anything else you’d like to say?
Happy new year!