2020 is better remembered by most as a year of struggle rather than success, but there will always be those who find a way of bucking a trend. While coach operators were heading to London to protest a lack of political support that summer as part of the collective Honk for Hope efforts, NK Holidays was only just emerging onto the scene.
The idea for a Sittingbourne-based coach and holiday company came at the end of 2019 thanks to long-time coach industry member Steve Mason, who then could not possibly have predicted he would found a coach holiday company during the height of the sector’s disgruntlement. Regardless, he pushed ahead, and it’s paid off: the business recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with the delivery of two brand-new vehicles.
A unique beginning
Perhaps counterintuitively, founding the business at the height of the COVID pandemic may have brought unexpected benefits for NK.
The first national lockdown measures had come into force only a few months prior, and days before the business was officially registered on 7 July 2020, the UK’s first local COVID lockdown was shutting down parts of Leicestershire. Messaging to avoid public transport was still fresh in mind, and social distancing complicated public transport use. A second lockdown was only months away, finally being enforced on 5 November.
First intentions at NK had been to work with partner coach operators to run the holidays. That proved unfeasible. In its first year of trading, Steve says about 75% of products listed in the company brochure never operated. But thanks to government business support, the company — then with only Steve at the helm — was able to stay afloat, while the presence of a high street shop, situated in a high-traffic area near Sittingbourne post office, guaranteed exposure.
“Truth be known, I think we succeeded because of COVID,” Steve says. “We may well have struggled in those early days. Any businessperson will tell you that you must plan for two years before you break even. We had government support during the pandemic that let us maintain a high street presence. That put our name out there.”
By the time lockdown measures eased, NK was well situated to take advantage of a pent-up demand for travel. “The fact that people came out of COVID wanting holidays meant we were there for them at the right time. People had seen what we were planning to offer and wanted it. In those early days we could have done a full day trip to Faversham, come back, and sent out another load. People wanted out, and we were there to fill that vacuum.”
NK has since enjoyed impressive growth; to mark its anniversary the company reported a six-fold increase in holiday and day trip passengers, from 302 and 784 respectively in 2021 to 1,789 and 4,993 in 2025. The future looks bright.
Knowing the market
Before founding NK, Steve had been 41 years in the industry, having joined out of the Royal Air Force. A job that started as a driver for Greenline Coaches eventually took him to National Express and in various positions throughout, including night controller and area controller on the operational side. Prior to 2020, Steve spent some 14 years with Jay and Kay Coach Tours near Dartford, where he recognised Sittingbourne as a good potential location for a coach tourism base.
“It was showing all the signs of wanting, but not having,” he says. Potential existed thanks to its customer demographics, and a dissatisfaction with options that were already present. “It was purely through listening, looking, and being local. I thought it was worth giving it a try — in all honesty, the enthusiasm for it has surprised me.”
That gut feeling might come down to having 47 years of experience in the game, but 2020 also brought with it a whole new learning process. A glance at NK’s holiday brochure shows a coach operator grounded with a traditional spread of work: private hires, tours and day trips, work with Medway Rugby Club, various active retirement associations, and local social groups. But Steve says he equally recognised a need to cater to new types of coach travel demands.
“COVID changed everything,” he says. “It changed attitudes. People were probably stuck in their ways of what they would consider doing prior to COVID. They might be happy going to Torquay every year, to the same hotel. But that is gone now. We have to supply something different. While we do the same locations, the Lake District for example, you can do half a dozen different holidays based out of the same hotel. It’s important now to have something varied, something to excite your customers.”
Together with Marketing Manager Kelly Lywood, who brings her own enthusiasm to the business, the pair bounce around ideas of what kind of coach trips work in the post-pandemic market.
“I’ve learned that people’s attitudes have changed,” Kelly says. “Things prior to COVID would sell that don’t now. Things that didn’t sell before, do.”
For example, Kelly introduced theatre trips into the brochure. Steve was uncertain. The financials didn’t seem to stack up, given the competitive cost of return rail tickets to Victoria. But it turns out there are many customers who are willing to pay simply to have the experience of being on a coach. “People go away with six or seven new friends when they do,” Steve explains. “A lot of them now go off for lunchtime snacks on our day trips. It is a community.”
Selling the virtue of coach travel as good for its own sake seems to appeal to the Sittingbourne market, where community cohesion, and a focus on catering to a particular geographic area is paying dividends. That community talks among itself and where one person has an idea for a trip, others will follow.
That kind of customer loyalty and word of mouth has been a cornerstone of the business’ growth. As has been Steve’s emphasis on finding excellent drivers. “A tour driver is bred, not born,” he says, and counts himself blessed to have three individuals who each bring a unique personality to the task.
As well as in Sittingbourne, NK is consequently getting a strong following in Faversham and now sends a minibus on pick-up duties. But Steve is committed to not breaking a ’90-minute rule’ whereby a coach will be underway on its day trip no more than 90-minutes after first pick-up, which limits geographic expansion further afield.
A focus on renewal
Five vehicles comprise NK’s fleet. When its first coach trips left the depot, they were operated with a 2016-plate ex-Shearings Mercedes-Benz Tourismo, bought in 2021 when much of the group’s stock came onto the used vehicle market.
That coach still soldiers on. In addition to a pair of new Tourismos delivered in late 2024 and 2025, the company recently laid out on a 10-year-old 30-seater Yutong, to accommodate an increase in groups looking for a smaller coach. Should that prove popular, Steve says he is likely to upgrade in that segment. The fleet is completed by an eight-seater Volkswagen Transporter, used on shuttle duties.
The latest 13m Tourismos are each fitted with just 48 seats, allowing generous legroom. “I’m a firm believer in not cramming in,” Steve says. “Coaches of that size you often see with 63 or 67 seats. Our Yutong should be a 34-seater, but with a row taken out, that also has additional legroom.”
Plans had been to sell the 2016 example, alongside a 2015 model that was sold in November last year. But plans evolve. There is a sentimental attachment now, and lead times for some new coaches are stretched to around 18 months. “It’s working, it’s doing the job all the time. Potentially we will have its seats reupholstered in the same moquette as the new vehicles. It can do private hire work, but we do not do any work with schools. That’s a good place for it to be.”
Steve praises nearby Grange Travel of Gravesend, which has supplied NK with its maintenance arrangements.
Strength to strength
Private hire has increased greatly for NK recently, and the company is developing its digital channels. Earned Recognition accreditation is also on the horizon.
When it comes to challenges, costs continue to rise. But having conversations with suppliers and establishing strong relationships allows for flexibility. Steve says finding good quality hotels is harder than fighting the price hikes.
For NK, which has found its customer base with a connected demographic, continuing to maximise the benefits of co-ordinated group travel is a priority. “People are conscious of price here,” Steve says. “So we need to encourage customers who book multiple people. It’s about building rapport. That’s what people expect. Know your area, and then know how to treat them right.”
Steve has just celebrated his 70th birthday, and says he doesn’t see immediate growth in size for the business. For now, refinement of the current offering is all that matters — and special credit is given to those that have joined him on the journey. “I started this business when I retired,” he reflects. “For now, this venture is about ensuring I have the best staff, and replacing the older vehicles with new. It all depends on what comes through the door.
“I like to think the people we employ are here because they want to be here. I’m a very proud man when it comes to this company, and it is not where it is just because of me. It is the staff that get any business to where it is, and without them doing what they do, we might as well shut up shop.”
