Luxury travel firm starts offering staycations with demand set to soar

A luxury travel brand has started selling holidays to destinations within the UK and Ireland to capitalise on the anticipated growth in staycations.

Kuoni, which is known for offering long-haul breaks to locations such as the Maldives, Mauritius and Thailand, entered the domestic travel market for the first time on Friday.

There is expected to be huge demand for staycations once the coronavirus lockdown is eased, with some people concerned about movement restrictions and the risk of being infected by the virus if they travel abroad.

Among the new locations being offered by Kuoni are the Isles of Scilly off the Cornish coast, the Gower Peninsular in South Wales and Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way.

Activities include visiting locations from James Bond films in Scotland while driving an Aston Martin, and stargazing in rural Northumberland.

Kuoni said it is “ready for travel once the lockdown is eased”.

Chief executive Derek Jones commented: “We’re famed for planning special trips to beautiful places around the world but we think there are many equally stunning places to discover closer to home as well.

“The coronavirus crisis has played havoc with people’s travel plans so we wanted to create a collection of quality, premium trips throughout the UK and Ireland which blend local culture, adventure and exploration with luxury style.”

Kuoni has partnered with Glasgow-based tour operator McKinlay Kidd to create staycations which it claims will be personalised to suit each customer.

Mr Jones added: “This is about working with like-minded specialists with similar values, and introducing more reasons for people to trust us with their special travel plans so we can broaden the scope of what we can offer.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential international travel since March 17, while domestic holidays are not allowed due to the Government’s lockdown orders issued six days later.