'From April onwards, we'll be cooking with gas' – Freeth

While the group has pre-emptively cancelled all departures through to the end of March, Freeth said with a big a "big chunk" of the group’s customers falling into those older age brackets likely to be vaccinated over the coming weeks and months, demand for Q2 departures – and beyond – was strong.

"No-one’s going anywhere in March. But from April onwards, we’re cooking with gas," said Freeth. "We’re hopeful we’ll have April departures, that we’ll be running tours, and that customers will enjoy the experiences they’ve booked.

"If, for whatever reason, the government’s steps have not led us out of this, we will, of course, be disappointed, but we’ll do whatever we can to move those customers to equivalent tours later on.

"But as we sit here today, confidence levels are high, albeit tempered by the massive question mark which has hovered over us and the rest of the industry for almost a year."