FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- Many in the Fort Rucker community have been bitten by the travel bug, if customer traffic at the leisure travel office is any indication.
After just over a month of operating in its new location inside the Center Library, business is booming, Charlotte Allen, senior travel clerk and manager of leisure travel, said, adding that the office averages about 15-20 customers a day and an additional 10-15 phone calls for information.
“We were shut down for so long, and now we’ve had a major influx of business – it doesn’t seem to be slowing down as people seem to really want to travel,” Allen said, adding that the office moved from its former location in Bldg. 5700 and held its grand re-opening in early May. “I’m even giving out cruise quotes, scheduling flights to Italy and things like that now.”
MWR Central-Leisure Travel is a full service travel agency that provides a range of travel services to active-duty and retired military personnel, their family members, Department of Defense civilian employees and other members of the military community, according to the Fort Rucker Directorate of Family, and Morale, Welfare and Recreation website.
“We are also your one-stop shop to receive the latest and greatest information on MWR events and activities on Fort Rucker,” the website reads. “You are able register for the fun runs and other various events hosted by the physical fitness center, along with other special event tickets may be purchased at your MWR Central office.”
Leisure travel can also provide brochures, catalogs, flyers and information on various attractions and points of interest in the surrounding area, as well as other major travel destinations and hotels all over the world, according to the website.
“We can help them with flights and hotel reservations to wherever they’re wanting to go – whether it’s Disney, Sea World, Tennessee, Atlanta, Florida – we can help book all of that and also help them find the best deals available to military members,” Allen said. “We’re seeing cruises opening back up, too, and have had some people come in to look at what next year’s cruise prices will be, and getting quotes for flights to places like Italy and Manilla.”
While Allen and the two other travel clerks in the office stand at the ready to help people get to pretty much wherever the travel bug wants to take them, the manager said the most popular destinations people want to go are Universal Studios and Walt Disney World in Orlando.
For those in the community who’ve fallen victim to a bite from the travel bug now that travel restrictions are being relaxed in many places, Allen’s advice is simple.
“Come in and see us -- we’ll do our best to make you happy,” she said.
For more on leisure travel, stop by the office in the Center Library Tuesdays-Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., visit https://rucker.armymwr.com/programs/mwr-leisure-travel, or call 255-2997.
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