‘Traincations’ could be the next big tourism trend and the North of England should aim for ‘as big a slice of the pie as possible’, says Northern.

The concept is seen as a natural development of the ‘staycation’ and the train operator is now working with travel influencers such as @CheapHolidayExp Chelsea Dickenson to promote the idea with consumers and raise awareness of the benefits of train travel with tour operators and group travel organisers.

If it takes off, package deals including train tickets rather than coach travel or domestic flights could become commonplace.  

On Saturday, the train operator put its theory to the test with a pop-up travel agency in Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

Sample mini breaks were up for grabs in towns and cities across the North, including Blackpool, Buxton, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

For people that were not able to visit the ‘travel agency’ in person, the mini break prizes are available as part of an online competition at: northernrailway.co.uk/offers/competitions

And now, Northern – who already works with tourist boards and local visitor economy partnerships across its network – says it is looking to work closer with tour operators and group travel organisers to develop the idea.

Mark Powles, commercial and customer director at Northern, said: “Staycations have become part and parcel of the leisure industry and the rail industry needs to ‘get in’ on the action.

“The North of England has an amazing tourism offer and businesses should be working together to ensure the region gets as big a slice of the ‘traincation’ pie as possible.”

According to VisitBritain, there were 117.3m domestic overnight trips in Great Britain during 2023. In total, they generated £30.9bn in visitor spend.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.

Image credit: Northern