A PIONEERING Ashford firm is moving into the European travel market.

ABC Holiday Extras, of Apple Barn, Smeeth, has been researching opportunities in Europe for the past nine years. It is convinced that Germany offers the best prospects and the move has triggered demand for fluent German speakers at its Kent-based call centre.

Six staff have already been recruited and more may be needed following a test launch in August with German travel agents and an expected full launch in December.

David Cowell, sales and marketing director, said Germany was a logical place to go. Its population was similar to the UK's, and a comparable number of people took breaks of four days or more.

He expects the German push to deliver profits within three years. An office is opening in Munich but most bookings will be handled in Smeeth. If successful, the new strategy could lead to launches in other parts of Europe.

Mr Cowell admitted that September 11 had hit the bottom line but said things had been picking up in recent months.

ABC provides "secondary travel products" for customers, travel operators and travel agents.

Stephen Lawrence, managing director, said: "More people have more and more disposable income to go on holiday. We need to be working with everyone who touches the holiday-maker."

Expansion into Germany comes as ABC, a private family-owned company, prepares to move into a new £5 million headquarters under construction at nearby New Inn Green

ABC employs 250 people at present and the futuristic new building, designed by the architects of the Eden Project in Cornwall and built by long-established Westerham builder Durtnell, will cope with an additional 100 staff.