Riviera Travel adds regional flights to long-haul escorted tour programme

This story has been updated since publication

Riviera Travel has added regional flights from four UK airports to its long-haul escorted tour programme following “strong customer demand”.

Flights from Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh are now available on selected departures for 2026 and 2027 tours and come with a supplement.

These build on existing regional departures to Morocco and reflect “growing demand beyond London”.

There will be new departures from Manchester and Birmingham for the 13-day Highlights of Sri Lanka and the 15-day Grand Journey from India’s Golden Triangle to Shimla or Signature Tour: Grand Journey from India’s Golden Triangle to Shimla.

Departure from Manchester, Birmingham or Edinburgh have also been added for the 16-day South Africa tour, while options from Manchester and Edinburgh are now available for the 13-day Best of Japan Tour.

Riviera Travel director of trade and partnerships Vicky Billing said: “Our long-haul touring programme is currently up 20% year on year, and it’s still accelerating.

“That growth is exactly why we brought Lloyd Morris on board as our long-haul champion, but we also recognised that to truly serve our customers across the UK, we needed to expand our regional presence.”

She added: “We already operate over 17 regional flights through our River Cruise programme, and while this new expansion doesn’t match that scale yet, it’s a significant move forward for us at Riviera Travel.

“It shows just how serious we are about growing our touring portfolio.”

Billing said the more it sells, the more it can offer in future, emphasising it was “vital” for the trade to have these option for their customers.

“As specialists with over 40 years of touring experience, we know it’s time to get regional flying right in this part of the business,” she said.