Caledonian Leisure targets more growth in 2022
Caledonian Leisure is targeting further growth in 2022 as it looks to build on what it described as a successful first year.
Caledonian Leisure comprises coach holiday specialist Caledonian Travel and hotel breaks operator UKBreakaways.com. It was founded by the former senior management team of National Holidays and is backed by a multi-million-pound investment from the Mobeus VCTs, LSE-listed venture capital trusts advised by Gresham House Asset Management that invests in UK growth companies.
Launched in April 2021, Caledonian Travel outperformed its first-year business plans. It says this performance was driven by the expansion of the Caledonian Travel brand beyond its Scottish heartland into northern England, with new departure points throughout the north east and Yorkshire supported by the opening of travel centres in Glasgow, Middlesbrough and Wakefield.
Caledonian Travel plans to invest in further strengthening its retail presence in 2022. New travel centres at Gateshead Metro Interchange and Hull Paragon Interchange are due to open soon, and there are plans to open several more throughout the course of the year. A large multichannel marketing campaign is due to be launched shortly as Caledonian Leisure continues to raise awareness of both Caledonian Travel and UKBreakaways.com to drive sales.
“Holiday bookings for the coming year have started at a pace and we are already well ahead of our intake budgets” – Managing Director, Graham Rogers
Managing Director, Graham Rogers, says: “Beating our first-year projections during a challenging climate was very satisfying. We’re eager to build on this success and have ambitious plans to accelerate our growth in 2022.
“Holiday bookings for the coming year have started at a pace and we are already well ahead of our intake budgets, so we’re on course for another highly successful year.
“The key to our success is our ability to deliver exceptional products to our customers at sensational value. We’re continually innovating our breaks across the UK, Ireland and Europe and our experience breaks to family attractions, live sporting events, West End shows and concerts are expanding all the time, meaning there really is something for everyone.”
Caledonian’s first-year performance was capped off by winning a 2022 Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, designed to recognise businesses who consistently deliver outstanding customer experiences.