Holiday Extras says it plans to double in size over the next five years as the travel industry bounces back after the ravages of the pandemic.

The firm, which has its headquarters in Newingreen, near Hythe, is the market leader in providing airport parking and hotels, as well as other holiday add-ons. It has agreed a new lending facility with its bank to fund its ambitious plans.

But the pandemic and the complete closure of travel hit it hard and forced it to make 300 redundancies and undergo a major restructuring just to survive.

The firm, which marks its 40th anniversary this year, has now agreed a facility worth £20 million with NatWest.

Holiday Extras’ chief financial officer, Hugo Loudon, said: “Our last financial year was the most successful we’ve ever seen in our 40 years’ trading and given our plans to grow our business we decided that rather than simply closing the borrowing facility we no longer needed for seasonal cash flow, we’d keep it to acquire businesses that we believe support our growth strategy.

“The funding support of NatWest will enable us to power our growth plans and deliver the ambitious strategy we have in place.

“Holiday Extras operates in several areas including car parking, insurance, UK breaks and travel technology, so our new funding is likely to pursue growth and acquisition opportunities in one or more of these areas.”