Hotel chain Travelodge is to create around 500 jobs through a National Park expansion.

The £135m programme for 37 hotels is in response to high customer demand for hotels near to the UK’s top rural locations.

The group says its hotels, which are within a wide radius of the main National Parks, have achieved high occupancy levels far earlier than normal this year. The most popular Travelodge hotels sites have included: Barnstaple (Exmoor), Porthmadog (Snowdonia), Cockermouth (Lake District) and Scarborough (North Yorkshire Moors).

Travelodge’s property team has been instructed to heavily focus their efforts on finding 37 suitable sites near to the UK’s 15 National Parks. Locations include: Aviemore (Cairngorms), Betws-y-Coed (Snowdonia), Grasmere (Lake District) and Minehead (Exmoor).

Travelodge chief executive Guy Parsons says: “The Staycation break is here to stay; more Britons are holidaying at home now than ever before. Traditionally Britons have opted for a coastal or city break but as more Britons explore the UK they are rediscovering new holiday hotspots and as a result, we have seen a significant surge in rural breaks.”