The secret recipe for Flavours Holidays Scottish success story - community, Italian food and solo travellers

So often travellers know what they want, what they are looking for, where they are going. Holidays, for them, are about destinations.

Take the picturesque bridge in Dean Village, nestled on the banks of the Water of Leith not a mile from Edinburgh city centre, which has become a destination for younger travellers - it is an Instagram hotspot.

The stylish, industrial-style offices of Flavours Holidays look out onto that bridge and those gaggles of photographers. But the team at Flavours have discovered that holidays are not solely about destination - they are also about experience and, importantly, community.

Lorne Blyth and Flavours Holidays have added Marrakech as a destination | Flavours Holidays / Adobe / Canva

Founder and CEO Lorne Blyth set up Flavours Holidays in 1998 and has grown the business to one which employs 12 staff in the Scottish base and works with dozens more on location in Italy, Spain and Morocco.

Packages include Italian cooking holidays in Sicily, Puglia and Tuscany from £1,799, a photography journey to Marrakech starting from £2,299, and Pilates lessons on a solo traveller group trip to Spain (£1,899).

Speaking from those Dean Village offices, after a lunch of Italian sandwiches (stuffed with mortadella, fresh cheese and artichokes) prepared here in the custom kitchen, Blyth talks about the journey she has taken her business on.

“Before covid, we were just very much a holiday company or a travel company. What happened during covid was a pivot - we did a lot of online classes, we did staycations and we came out of covid and I realised what we’ve got is a community.

Lorne Blyth, Flavours Holidays CEO | Flavours Holidays

“We did £200,000 revenue in 2020, by 2022 we’re back up at £2 million so we did a massive hockey stick. It wasn’t really until the end of 2022 when people got their appetite back for travel.

“In 2024 we went through £3m in revenue, another big hockey stick, and we’ve already got business in the bank for [2025]. Our repeat client rate has gone up and our Amici Events have been a big focus - we took guests to the Chelsea Physic Garden for a tour, we’ve been at the Royal Academy in London for the summer exhibition.”

Community is a mantra for Blyth and the Flavours team - repeat clients join their Amici Club, with access to exclusive events and added value. And it is working - the company was awarded Gold for Best Travel Company for Special Interest Holidays at the 2024 British Travel Awards.

“We’re focused on that consistency piece - making sure we get the quality, making sure the holidays work, the training, the staff in Italy, in Spain. And obviously we’re doing Morocco as well.”

Landscape with Koutoubia Mosque at sunset time, Marrakesh, Morocco | Balate Dorin - stock.adobe.com

Morocco, introduced in 2020, has come into its own for the firm post-pandemic, offering an attractive winter holiday package. Flavours offers customers, nearly half of whom are repeat travellers, year-round products.

“It’s the concept of Flavours people like - people feel safe, they know you are looked after. It’s good value. We’ve done Morocco as a kind of Amici exclusive and it just always sold out. So we started to bring that into the mainstream. That’s what I tend to do. I’m putting together a food tour in Marrakech for Amici for March, exclusively, and that will probably filter into the main portion for 2026.”

The Flavours customer demographic is predominantly older, over 60, and skews female. Many are solo travellers for whom the community aspect is a unique selling point. But what about growth - where are the new opportunities for Blyth and her team?

“What we’re trying to do is expand in the States - we’re looking at some acquisitions to give us a presence. That business development piece is focused on private groups. You’ll get a Pilates teacher who works in Texas who has a group of ladies, she brings them to Sicily.

Lorne Blyth, Flavours Holidays CEO | Flavours Holidays

“On an individual level, if we target Americans, we’re not going to get 50 per cent repeat clients. But if we’re working with a teacher who’s got a group, or even with a quite famous American chef who’s got Italian heritage, and we’re facilitating the logistics for them - that’s where we’re focusing our expansion in the United States.

“It’s tapping into existing communities, as it were, affiliate groups. That makes a lot of sense.”

Traveller testimonials credit the “value for what was included” and “convivial atmosphere” for why they will return. Good Housekeeping listed Flavour’s Sicilian cooking holiday as one of its 15 best ‘special interest holidays.

“More than 20 years, it’s a long time to be steering your own ship. Before covid I was on this scale-up. They tell you it’s about working on your business, not in your business, and you get all the usual bollocks. I was on that journey, scaling up, going to £10m (revenue). But then covid hits and I’m back on the front line again, which is where I started.

“I started 20 years ago driving the minibus, washing the dishes. It was when I got back, back to that touchy feely with customers, that’s what gives you energy. As much as they tell you in the business books it’s about working on your business not in your business, you really need to be in the business - it’s where you see things, it’s where you make improvements. And the benefits of this size of business is you can be agile.

“You speak to people, you understand what it is you provide. People have said to me, ‘this holiday changed my life because my husband just died’. We’re not performing miracles. But I’ve seen people come alive. You can have a dance, you can have a bit of fun, people are interested in what you have to say.”