Kuoni launches its first tailor-made UK and Ireland collection
For years, Kuoni has been famous for luxury long-haul holidays but now it is planning to sell tailor-made holidays in and around Britain. It has announced plans to launch a new range of bespoke holiday itineraries throughout Scotland, England, Wales and the island of Ireland, as part of the plan.
For this initiative Kuoni has partnered with McKinlay Kidd, which has been creating tailor-made holidays throughout the UK and Ireland since 2003, using local knowledge and expertise to design premium road trips with personal touches.
A new UK section of the company’s website went live on Friday, featuring a range of hand-picked itineraries discovering some of the UK and Ireland’s most scenic routes and hidden gems.
Places to stay have all been carefully chosen, ranging from five-star luxury hotels to family-run characterful retreats and all accommodation is pre-booked on carefully planned itineraries, with experiences which can be added along the way, from whisky tours to whale watching.
Trips which can be booked include the Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland; Scotland’s islands, including Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides; Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way; the Gower Peninsula in Wales; the Isles of Scilly; Devon and Cornwall road trips; rural Northumberland, which is the largest area of protected dark sky in Europe and ideal for stargazing, and a five-star Aston Martin 007 weekend in Scotland discovering locations from past Bond movies.
It’s not the first time Kuoni has partnered with a handpicked travel partner with like-minded values; the company already works with Ski Independence, Plain Sailing, Neilson and Wellbeing Escapes.
Derek Jones, CEO of Kuoni, said: “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.”
“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.”
Heather McKinlay, co-founder of McKinlay Kidd said: “Lots of people know Kuoni for their beautiful beach escapes and we want to surprise people about what’s on their doorstop. On a sunny day, a beach in the Outer Hebrides can do a fantastic impression of the Caribbean, with white sand and turquoise waters. Some of the beaches are so vast, you will barely see another soul – you could say social distancing is the norm.”
“Conservation and wildlife are other reasons why lots of Kuoni customers travel to places like Africa, India and Borneo. Around our own countries, wildlife abounds in rural and coastal areas – eagles, otters, seals, badgers, pine martens and more. You can even go whale-watching off the west of Ireland and from the Isle of Mull in Scotland,” he added.