Bermuda's newest travel agent, C Travel, is to become the first in Bermuda to open all day Saturday.

The agency, started by Carl Paiva, moved into its new offices this week on Queen Street in Hamilton in the former home of Pirates Port.

Mr. Paiva now has 22 full time agents working in the office and 11 part-time at his disposal.

The shop will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

on Saturday.

"The whole idea of the business is we are a service business and we want to provide a service at a time our customers want to use it,'' said Mr. Paiva.

He said the new offices allowed his staff to continue to feel like a team with open plan flooring and plenty of space for expansion.

There will also be a bank of televisions visible from Queen Street which will show the company's special offers.

C Travel was set up last year by veteran travel agent Mr. Paiva as an employee-owned business and opened its doors at the end of November in a temporary location in Church Street.

So far the business has raised $2 million and bought the building in the arcade. There is even enough room to sub-let a portion of the upstairs office.

"We are all delighted with the new offices,'' said Mr. Paiva yesterday. "It is the staff that make the place feel special, and they are happy here.'' The company was hoping to move by April 1 this year, but delays in building works have left it a month late. They are still ironing out problems with BTC, but Mr. Paiva said he and the company were working to make sure they were solved quickly.

On the mezzanine and first floor of Bermudiana Arcade, C Travel will have 6,209 square feet and has substantially remodelled the inside to fit their new corporate image.

The entire office is decked out in yellow and blue -- Mr. Paiva's favourite colours -- and the colours of the company's logo.

C Travel had been running in a temporary office in the Imperial Building on Church Street.

The company is 84 percent owned by its employees who had the opportunity to buy shares in the business for $15 a piece. There were originally 150,000 shares (worth a potential $2.25 million), but now there are just a few left for corporate deals.

Mr. Paiva said earlier this year buying the building with the investment money made sense for both the business and its stockholders.

Mr. Paiva is well known for his work in the travel industry. He has spent almost 30 years in the travel industry and helped build Meyer Travel, becoming executive vice-president of the company before his resignation on August 15, 2000.

Many of his staff are ex-Meyer travel staff and he has also enticed former co-owner of Global Travel, Sue Ingham, to come on board.

The company has gone from having ten full-time employees to 22 with 11 others operating on commission.