Short-stay vacations on the increase

Coach tour firm Shearings said bookings rose six per cent last year as the squeeze on household budgets prompted more people to holiday closer to home.

The Wigan-based group’s holidays division hosted 684,000 customers during 2010, driven by record sales growth of 15 per cent at its value-focused brands National Holidays and Caledonian.

Shearings said there had been a sharp rise in the number of shorter duration stays, typically three days, while popular destinations included seaside resorts such as Torquay and Llandudno. Scenic tours to the Scottish Highlands, New Forest, Lake District and the Cotswolds, as well as city breaks to Edinburgh, Bath and Oxford, were also proving popular, it added.

The company said its portfolio of 50 hotels, which operate under the Coast and Country and Bay Hotel brands, matched the previous year’s revenues performance despite the bad weather at the start and end of last year.

Across the group, adjusted operating profits rose 12 per cent to £4.6 million, while revenues were four per cent higher at £187.1 million.

Shearings, whose 265-strong coach fleet is less than four years old, said it expected further growth this year.

Chief executive officer Denis Wormwell said: “The board is particularly pleased with progress of the group’s value holidays division, where our product has met the needs of holiday-makers struggling with rising inflation and lower discretionary budgets.

“This demonstrates the success of our strategy to develop a broad product offering for an increasingly diverse range of customers and income groups.”

The company, which is backed by investment firm 3i, also offers overseas breaks, with tours of the Italian Dolomites and the Croatian Riviera proving popular last year.