Travelodge has announced plans to build 55 new hotels at seaside locations around the UK.
in some of the most under-invested UK resorts to help boost seaside tourism.
Travelodge aims to open a new hotel each month until 2015, creating 1,000 new jobs in the process. The investment plans include opening new sites at Blackpool, Weymouth, Newquay, Bournemouth and Scarborough within the next year alone.
Travelodge CEO, Grant Hearn, said: "Twenty out of the top eighty most deprived towns in the UK are on the coast. This investment will create a marked change to the fortunes of these economies. As our hotels are 'no frills', our customers spend all of their holiday cash in our hotels' communities.
"Seaside businesses will gain an extra £42m of annual customer spend from Travelodge alone."
Travelodge experienced strong like-for-like growth across its 30 existing coastal properties in 2007, with a sharp rise of 30 per cent predicted for July and August 2008, as an increasing number of British holidaymakers stay in the country. The hotel chain's growth is also reflected in tourism figures from VisitBritain which show a 13 per cent rise in UK holiday breaks for the first quarter of 2008.
The plans coincide with a new campaign to reinvigorate the British seaside. Travelodge are joining forces with leading UK holiday companies and visitor attraction operators, including National Express, Merlin's Sealife and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, to offer major discounts on accommodation, travel and attractions.
"If ever there was a time to win back the Brits that have been tempted abroad, it is now," said Hearn. "Soaring air fares, an overpowering Euro and the credit crunch is challenging holiday habits this summer.
"If we can provide quality accommodation, low prices and fantastic attractions, we can turn this opportunity into a lasting tourism legacy."
The chief executive of VisitBritain, Tom Wright, agreed that the campaign provided a great opportunity to promote Britain's coastal destinations.
" Now is the time for the travel industry to get behind the campaign and turn the potential of a domestic tourism boom into a reality."
