A range of new cycling holidays, due to launch in June 2020, have already secured hundreds of advanced accommodation bookings from travel giant TUI Holidays. The holidays have been created by tourism experts Visit Lincoln after funding was secured through Visit England’s Discover England Fund (DEF) programme in 2018.

“This is the first time that people can book a complete Lincolnshire cycling holiday online,” said Hayley Toyne from Visit Lincoln. “Four new cycling routes have been created which include the most scenic parts of Lincolnshire, as well as overnight accommodation, places to eat and experiences along the way. “The bid to secure funding was extremely competitive, but we submitted a joint proposal with Welcome To Yorkshire and secured over £1million to develop bookable packages that would become sustainable.”

Over the past 12 months Visit Lincoln and Welcome to Yorkshire have been marketing the new cycling holidays to travel agents by attending trade shows, delivering international marketing campaigns and PR. A familiarisation trip in Spring 2019 saw a travel representative from TUI Holidays come to Lincolnshire to test the routes out for themselves. This resulted in around 300 advance hotel room bookings. Andrew Smith, Managing Director at the Ashbourne Hotel in North Killingholme said: “It’s just fantastic - from the beginning we wanted to be involved, and to see the bookings come through is reward for everyone’s hard work. To bring the package together we joined forces with Visit Lincoln, other hotels, food providers and attractions. By working together we have managed to deliver something that we could never have done on our own. It’s been good for our business and good for Lincolnshire. It’s a very exciting time.”

Four cycling routes have been developed in total across North Lincolnshire, Lincoln City, the Lincolnshire Wolds & East Coast and in South Kesteven.

New consumer marketing for the project is inclusive of a series of promotional videos, which can be viewed at www.youtube.com/VisitLincoln

For more information see www.cycle-england.co.uk

Photo: Andrew Smith, Managing Director of the Oakridge Hotel Group, with Hayley Toyne, Lincolnshire Project Manager for Cycle England