Short breaks
BUTLINS has reintroduced its short-breaks product Breakaway after a two-year absence in an attempt to end its reliance on the family market.
A dedicated Breakaway brochure has been issued for the winter to accompany the main summer 2000 programme.
They are the first full programmes to be launched since Butlins’ £150m investment in its three parks at Skegness, Bognor Regis and Minehead.
New managing director George Rushton said the product will be targeted at couples, groups and families with older children. “We wanted to broaden the appeal of Butlins and increase activity in the parks during the winter and outside the main school-holiday periods,” he said.
The Breakaway product offers a new range of themed weekend breaks including Sports for Fun, Forever Young, and Make ’em Laugh.
Among the guests lined up for the season are former footballers Rodney Marsh and George Best, golden-oldie singers Tom O’Connor and the Beverly Sisters and comedians Phil Cool, Little and Large and Cannon and Ball.
Rushton said the breaks will appeal to a cross-section of the market. “We believe we are catering for all tastes. Breakaway should be particularly appealing to the groups market and we will be working more closely with them to develop this sector over time,” he said.
Butlins divisional sales director Nick Burrows denied the Breakaway programme had previously been dropped due to lack of demand.
“It was dropped because the hotels it used had been sold, he said.
Butlins is aiming for 15% growth in 2000 which will come largely from the winter Breakaway programme.