Niche sectors' naked truth

Paul Jackson launched Bare Inspiration Holidays with his wife Samantha in 2007 as a sister brand to their Global Travel Group member Fusion Travel.

Jackson told TTG that despite building a loyal clientele he had found it “challenging” to grow business owing to negative perceptions and a lack of education from suppliers and hoteliers about naturist holidays.

Jackson, who has been a naturist himself for more than 40 years, said he wanted to “raise awareness” of lesser-known travel sectors.

“A lot of suppliers have properties in their portfolios that have the facilities to accommodate naturist travellers but they just don’t realise it,” he said. “As an industry, I feel a lot of the time we just go for the mainstream and don’t look beyond that.

“Being a naturist is about body confidence and respecting yourself and others. On such holidays, you get to know people so much better and you don’t necessarily know how rich people are or what job they do.”

Jackson said he had also faced issues with marketing on social media because of censorship policy and has worked with the Global consortium on bespoke campaigns.

“It is a challenge because you want to promote your product truthfully, so you have to have a different approach,” he added. “Global has been brilliant and helped us promote ourselves so much better online.” Jackson said he is now looking for suppliers to help expand Bare Inspiration.