Dorset hotel chain see growing demand for staycations

Daish’s Holidays has experienced a 30 per cent increase in bookings for 2022 compared with the same January period in 2019.

With the lifting of travel restrictions continuing into the new year, the hotel and holiday chain has seen traveller confidence go from strength to strength.

A recent Visit Britain report which predicted domestic overnight tourism will rise this year by 64 per cent compared with 2020 to 65 per cent of the 2019 level.

Paul Harper, sales and marketing director at Daish’s Holidays, said: “It is deeply reassuring that despite 2021 not being quite the return to normal that businesses had hoped for, we are continuing to see a steady growth for our holiday bookings, with our current bookings overtaking our pre-Covid levels for 2019.”

Daish’s used the time during the government’s enforced closures last year to roll out a £1million investment programme across its entire portfolio, which has now seen the majority of its hotels benefit from extensive refurbishment work.

Mr Harper added: “The continued complications surrounding overseas travel means that UK staycations are still remaining the holiday choice for many.

“With some not having taken a trip since the pandemic began, it is great to see that traveller confidence is returning with guests choosing to make the most of our off-peak season, as well as the typical busier summer months.”

It comes almost two years after the company axed 177 jobs in the early days of the pandemic as

It later recruited 83 people as conditions improved, many of those who had left.

Daish’s Holidays is a family-owned and operated business that has 12 hotels in 10 destinations across England and Wales including Bournemouth, Weymouth and Newquay. In Bournemouth, it has the Bournemouth Sands Hotel on the West Cliff.

Last year, five of the company’s hotels earned the Tripadvisor’s 2021 Travellers Choice Award, with Bournemouth Sands Hotel and Daish’s Hotel both claiming the title for the seventh year running.