BP TRAVEL Marketing Services is working around the clock to deliver around 3,000 tonnes of holiday brochures to travel agents throughout the country.

The Ashford-based company is the nation's biggest supplier of direct marketing and retail distribution services for the UK travel industry. It distributes millions of holiday brochures to agents and consumers annually for its 200 tour operator clients. December and January are always the busiest months of the year for BP.

BP's director of operations David Campbell says that the peak period for people booking their summer holidays traditionally begins after Boxing Day so tour operators need to get the latest editions of their brochures delivered to travel agents in time for the post-Christmas rush.

"Our clients rely on us to get their brochures to agents on time so that people are able to find the holiday of their dreams," he said.

"Approaching Christmas we have 6,000 brochure consignments leaving our Ashford site every day -- that's 50% more than usual. While these are huge numbers, we are actually sending out fewer brochures this year.

"Global events like the SARS virus in the Far East and terrorism attacks in tourist hot spots like Turkey have had an impact but there's also been a major drive by the travel industry to streamline brochure distribution to save on wastage."

To cope with the seasonal rush, BP has taken on 50 extra staff in its 65,000 sq ft distribution centre on Ashford's Orbital Business Park, laid on extra shifts and vehicles, introduced weekend working and even has a small army of home-workers to help out.

BP run two online brochure request services, one for travel agents to order bulk supplies and one for consumers -- visit www.brochurebank.co.uk for details.