Cruise boom sees firm announce plans for new Portsmouth hotel

The budget hotel chain has set its sights on the city as it plans to expand its reach in port destinations.

The hotelier already operates two Travelodges in Portsmouth, one in Copnor Road and one in Kingston Crescent, but the ‘cruise boom’ is seeing it create a £60m investment for third party investors - which could lead to 300 new jobs across the country under its proposal.

The company has named its top 10 cruise port locations in which it hopes to secure deals and open new hotels.

As well as Portsmouth, it says it is looking at Southampton, Greenock, Glasgow, Harwich, Edinburgh, ​Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle and Tilbury.

The news comes after a report revealed that, last year, a record two million cruises were taken by British holidaymakers – which is a six per cent increase from 2016.

Tony O’Brien, Travelodge property director said: ‘The cruise boom is still underway and predicted to grow,

‘We are getting on board now and looking for ten new hotel sites at UK’s growing Ports, which includes Portsmouth.

‘With more Britons taking to the waves, our Port based hotels are benefiting from holidaymakers stopping over before embarking and returning from their voyage.’